Misplaced Memories
by Riku Kingdom Hearts
Summary: Kairi brought Sora back to normal through his Heartless...but what if when Sora returned but had none of his memories? All of his memories went to his Nobody. Now Roxas has all of Sora's memories while Sora is in an amnesiac state, unable to remember anything about himself or his past, or anything else.
1. Chapter 1

**So...yeah...So my friend AgentFancyPants came up with a crazy interesting "What if" story idea. And I really liked...so I went and tried to write a chapter 1! Enjoy!**

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 **Ch.1**

After Kairi's heart was returned and Sora disappeared, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi were making their way through the Hollow Bastion castle, running as fast as they could towards the exit. They had made it all the way down to the entrance hall of the castle when Goofy turned around to see a Shadow Heartless following them.

"A Heartless is after us!" He shouted.

"I'll take care of him," Donald said as the little Heartless crawled closer. Donald then whacked it in the head with his magic wand. "Confounded Heartless! Get lost will ya?"

The Heartless just stood there tilting its head, almost looking confused. It looked at the group with its yellow glowing eyes. Kairi started at the Heartless, with a look of disbelief on her face.

"Sora? Is that you?" She asked, looking at the Heartless. Before anything else could be asked or said, suddenly a ton more Shadow Heartless appeared around the group.

"Uh-oh," Goofy said as he readied his shield to fight them off.

Goofy and Donald ran towards the various Shadow Heartless to take them out, leaving Kairi behind with the little Heartless that followed them. "This time, I'll protect you." The Shadow Heartless surrounding her slowly closed in, getting ready to pounce. Just as they jump at Kairi, she turned around and wrapped her arms around the Heartless, "Sora!"

Donald and Goofy defeat the Heartless near they and look over where Kairi was, now with Shadow Heartless piled on top of her.

"Kairi!" Goofy called out.

In a matter of seconds a bright light exploded from underneath the Heartless pile, filing the Heartless back in all directions. When the light died down they say that Kairi was standing there in the arms of Sora. Kairi opened her eyes and looked at him with amazement.

"Sora…" Kairi said as she looked at him.

He didn't respond back though, he just looked at her with a dazed and confused look. Swaying every lightly as he looked rather spaced out.

Kairi looked at him, "Sora, are you okay?"

"What?..." Sora started to say.

"Sora!" Donald and Goofy both yelled as more Heartless surrounded them.

Suddenly a loud roar was here, all turned to see the Beast jumping down to the area and swatting away a Heartless. "Go! Now!"

Everyone, but Sora, nodded and started to run. Kairi grabbed Sora's hand and pulled him along, "Come on Sora, let's go." She said as they ran. " _Maybe he is just a little dazed from returning to normal. I hope he is alright."_ Kairi thought as they ran all the way back to the Gummi Ship.

They made it back to the Gummi ship, Donald ran over to the controls and took off as fast as they could. Kairi led Sora to one of the chairs and sat him down. "Are you okay Sora?"

Sora just mostly stared blankly back at Kairi, tilting his head to the side ever so slightly. "Who…." Sora started with a rather quiet voice. "Where…." He seemed unable to complete his sentences.

"Sora. Do you remember what happened?" Kairi asked.

Sora looked down at the floor, "I… Don't…" He didn't continue his sentence.

Kairi gasped turning out to look at Donald and Goofy, "Somethings wrong with Sora! He seems so out of it."

Goofy looked at Sora, who still sat there in the chair, unresponsive and spaced out. Goofy gave a worried look, "Gawrsh maybe Leon will know what's wrong. We'll ask him as soon as we get back to Traverse Town."

"Please be okay Sora," Kairi pleaded as she clasped her hands together.

Meanwhile on a different world, a boy with blond hair was laying on the ground, looking as if he were asleep. He was laying outside next to a large gate that lead to a mansion. Groaning he opened his eyes and slowly sat up. "How...what happened…" He groaned rubbing his head.

The boy looked around, " _How did I get here?"_ He thought to himself. " _The last thing I remember is that Donald, Goofy and I defeated Maleficent as a dragon…Found Kairi...though she wasn't awake... Then there was Riku...well not really Riku. Someone possessing him. We defeat him and then... I can't remember. Everything after that is a little fuzzy…"_

Suddenly a black oval-shaped portal appeared a few feet in front of him. Instantly the boy jumped up to his feet, ready to summon his keyblade, not knowing what could happen. But to the boys surprise a tall man, dressed in a black cloak stepped out of the portal.

"You seek answers," The man said as he walked towards the boy.

"What are you talking about?" The boy asked. Then he thought for a moment, " _Why...why does my voice sound different?"_ The boy then looked down and noticed that his clothes were completely different. " _What….Just what exactly happened to me?"_

The man didn't answer the boys question, instead he raised his hand and in front of him appear four glowing letters. Four letters that spelled out the name 'Sora"

" _Hey...that's my name…"_ The boy thought. " _How does he know my name?"_

"You feel nothing. Nothing is real. I can give you purpose." The man said.

"Nothing?...What are you talking about? What do you mean? Can you explain where I am?" Sora asked, getting a little annoyed at the guy, while still a little uneased by the sound of his voice. " _I feel….nothing? What does he mean by that...?"_ His thoughts then asked him.

"All will be explained in due time," The man said, and then with the wave of the man's hand, the letter's spun around Sora. The letters spun faster and faster around him and until the hooded man raised his hand again. All the letters suddenly stopped and a X was now in the middle of them. The letters came back closer together, spelling a new name.

Sora started at the new name in front of him. "Roxas?..." He said aloud.

"That is right...the new you." The man replied.

"New me? What are you talking about?! Where am I? Where are my friends?" Sora shouted.

"If you come with me, the answer you seek will be explained." The man said as a portal appeared behind him. He took a step back towards the portal and gestured for Sora to follow.

Sora started at the man in front of him, there was something about him that Sora didn't trust...but he couldn't figure out what. But what other choice did he have, he had no idea where he was or how he had gotten here. He still didn't know what really happened to him, everything's till was so confusing. Sora sighed, he didn't really want to, but maybe this guy really did have the answers he needed. He was still confused how he had gotten here and what as going on. This was all he had to go on, he decided to take the chance. But he knew if this ended up being a trap or something else, he would be ready to run and fight if needed.

"Fine…" Sora replied with a sigh as he followed the man through the portal.

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 **So that was chapter 1.  
This is going to be complicated and will take some time to figure out how everything will work.  
If you got any suggestions or thoughts please let me know.  
Also if any of you guys have an idea for a better title, please let me know. I feel like this could be better. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright, so I got another chapter for this crazy idea story. Woo!  
**

ALSO **! A suggestion by a Guest review said that the title should be called "Identity Catastrophe". What do you guys think? Stick with "Memories Elsewhere" or go with that other one? Let me know.**

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 **Ch.2**

Donald, Goofy, Kairi, and spaced out looking Sora, made it back to Traverse Town. Kairi grabbed Sora's hand and pulled him along. As they ran all the way to the Third District Donald and Goofy smacked Heartless back, to keep a clear path for Sora and Kairi. Though there were way more Heartless than they had expected, but they managed to fight off any Heartless that came running at the. They ran until they entered the third area and then headed into the small house where Yuffie, Aerith, and Leon were waiting.

Once inside Kairi brought Sora over to the bed in the room and had him sit down. He looked around the room a little, but continued to say nothing and looked dazed. After that it almost looked like he was about to fall asleep. Kairi didn't move away from the bed though, she sat down right next to Sora and held one of his hands in hers. Leon looked long at Sora before looking at Donald, Goofy, and Kairi.

"What happened? Tell me." Leon asked as he crossed his arms.

Donald and Goofy looked at each other and then at Kairi, who nodded at them. They then told Leon the events that happened at Hollow Bastion. They then did their best to explain what exactly happened to Sora that caused him to be in his current state.

After all the information was explained Leon closed his eyes, "So the darkness is flowing out of the that Keyhole...and Sora…he doesn't seem to remember anything..." He opened his eyes looked over at Sora, who actually looked up briefly, as if responding to his own name. But of course Sora didn't actually say anything, he just went back to almost falling asleep.

Kairi looked at Sora and then at Leon, still holding Sora's hand, "Do you know if there is any way to help Sora remember?"

Leon sighed and shook his head, "I don't know…I never knew something like this could happen."

"Do you think he will ever remember?" Kairi asked with wide pleading eyes. Leon didn't answer, he just closed his eyes and lowered his head. Kairi then jumped up from the bed, letting go of Sora's hand, "Isn't there anything we can do to help him? There has to be some way to help him remember!"

Leon just reminded silent with his head lowered. Kairi's eyes started to swell with tears as she clenched her fists. Aerith walked over to Kairi and placed her hands on Kairi's shoulder. "Kairi...We may not be able to help him. From what it seems when you brought him back, his memories may not have come back with him. So he...may not ever remember." Aerith said, speaking her usual calm, kindhearted voice. She did her best to try and relax Kairi, but the tears started to stream down Kairi's face.

"No! He has to remember!" Kairi shouted as she turned around to face Sora, and threw her arms around him "Sora, please remember! You have to!" Kairi cried as she hugged Sora tightly.

Everyone else in the room stood there in silence, none of them wanted to see Sora in such a state or Kairi so upset. No one knew what to do, but after a minute Leon singled for everyone, but Kairi, to head towards the door.

"I think that she may want some space for now…" Leon whispered. "We'll check back with her in a few minutes...We'll go to the First District to discuss what we need to do about that Keyhole" Everyone nodded and headed out of the small house, leaving Kairi to be alone with Sora.

"Sora...please...please tell me you remember." Kairi said as she continued to hold on Sora tightly. "Me...Riku...the islands. Anything. I know you can remember...you have to…" She looked up at Sora, and to her surprise he looked right at her, though he still had a mostly distant look in his eyes. "You understand what I am saying...right?" Kairi asked and Sora slowly nodded. A small smiled formed crossed Kairi's face as she let go of Sora, "Is there any you can remember?"

Sora tilted his head to the side as he continued to look at Kairi. He stared right into her eyes, as if almost looking for something. "Kairi…" He finally ended up saying in a quiet voice.

Tears started to fall from Kairi's eyes again, " _He said my name… He actually said my name."_ Kairi wiped the tears from her eyes, "Sora, does that mean you remember me?"

It took a minute, but Sora then placed a hand over his heart and slowly nodded. Kairi's eyes swelled up again with tears as she gave Sora another hug. Then to her surprise she felt Sora's hands gently wrap around her. "Oh Sora, I knew you couldn't forget about me. You may not have your memories, but deep down in your heart you know who I am. Our hearts...their connected."

As soon as Kairi and Sora let go from their hug, "Oh, Sora I have something I want to give to you." Kairi said as she pulled something out of her pocket, it was the wayfinder she had been working on all the back when they were on the islands. She placed it in the palm of Sora's hand. "I made this as my good luck charm. But I want you to have it, maybe…" Kairi paused for a moment before smiling, "Maybe it will help you remember."

Sora smiled back and looked at the wayfinder in his hand. "Thanks Kairi…"

Kairi then noticed how sleepy Sora now looked. "Sora… do you need to rest a little? You are probably tired after everything that happened."

Sora nodded again, "Yeah...Tired…" He then placed the wayfinder on the pillow and laid down right next to it, and closed his eyes.

Kairi sighed, she was still upset that Sora wasn't fully himself, but she did feel a bit better knowing Sora remembered her. Kairi wiped the remaining tears from her eyes, and she finally managed to relax a little.

A little bit later, Leon and all the others returned to the small house. Kairi quickly walked up to all of them, "Guys!" She said, not raising her voice to loudly, "Sora he…. He remembers me."

"He does?" Donald asked.

Kairi nodded, "Though I don't think he has his memories still...it's more like… his heart remembers."

"Gwarsh, that means he must remember all of us," Goofy said.

"The power of the heart…" Leon started, "It is something quite amazing."

"But… what are we going to do now?" Kairi asked.

"That's what we wanted to talk about," Yuffie said. "It complicated things now with Sora like that."

"We need the keyblade to see the Keyhole back at Hollow Bastion. A lot of darkness is flowing out of it," Leon explained.

"And that's causing a lot of Heartless to be roaming around," Aerith added.

"Oh. So it needed to be sealed right?" Kairi asked.

"Yes," Leon responded, "But with Sora...being how he is...that might not happen."

"But there has to be some other way then right?" Kairi asked.

Leon shook his head, "We need Sora's keyblade. That is the only way to close the keyhole. But if he isn't able to even remember what the keyblade is…" Leon trailed off.

Kairi then walked back to the bed, she didn't really want to wake Sora, but she wanted to test something. She gently shook Sora on the shoulder. "Hey Sora...I know you want to sleep...but I want to ask you something."

Sora slowly sat up, and once he did he made sure to grab the wayfinder to hold in his hand. "Yeah…?"

"Sora...Do you remember what the keyblade is?" Kairi asked and Sora nodded. "Do you remember how to summon it?"

Sora thought for a moment and then nodded, "Yeah…" With his other hand, that wasn't holding Kairi's wayfinder, he held it out. After a moment, a glow of light appeared in Sora's hand and the keyblade appeared.

Kairi reached out and placed her hand on the handle, her hand on top of Sora's. "Is it alright if I use it for a while?" Kairi asked with a smile and Sora nodded.

Kairi took the keyblade completely into her hand, gripping the handle tightly. She then turned and faced the group, "I'll be the one to seal that keyhole."

"Are you sure?" Yuffie asked.

Kairi nodded with a determined look, "I want to do this. I want to do this for Sora. That is what my heart is telling me."

"If that is what you decided, then I won't stop you." Leon said.

"We'll be glad if you were to come with us Kairi," Goofy said cheerfully.

"But what about Sora?" Donald asked.

"Hm… He should probably stay with us until he recovers more." Leon said.

"No. I want him to come with me," Kairi said.

"But what how would he be able to help? If you are using his keyblade...plus he…he doesn't seem like he would be able to fight against the Heartless," Yuffie said.

Suddenly a bright light came from near Sora. Everyone looked over in his direction to see him staring at Kairi's wayfinder in his hand, but it was now glowing. It glowed until it disappeared in flash and in its place was a keyblade. Everyone stared in surprise, even Sora looked a little surprised. The keybalde in his hand wasn't like the one Kairi was holding, this one was a completely different shape. The color was a off-white, with the teeth being a mix of yellow, blue, and purple. The guard bar of the keyblade looked like angel wings. But the most interesting thing about this keyblade was the keychain. The keychain had a miniature version of Kairi's wayfinder.

Kairi looked at the keyblade and then back at the group, "There. Deep down Sora knows what he is doing. So he's going to come along. Donald and Goofy had told me that back at Hollow Bastion they learned that my heart was with Sora's, we we're together that whole time. So I won't go without him."

"Well… if it's fine with these two...then go ahead." Leon said gesturing to Donald and Goofy.

"Ya know, I would hate to leave Sora behind, after all we've been through." Goofy said.

"Yeah of course he can come," Donald added.

"Then it's settled," Kairi said with a smile.

"You guys should all get your rest then. You'll leave to seal that keyhole tomorrow." Leon said. "Back in the First District there is some more houses that are empty. You guys can rest up there."

Kairi nodded, "Thank you." Sher then turned to face Sora again, "Come on, let's go." She took Sora's open hand and he nodded.

He stood up and everyone headed out of the small house and headed back towards the First District. Various Heartless popped on along the way, but Kairi did her best to fight them back. It was a little hard for her to get use to using the keyblade, but soon she got the hang out it. Sora on other hand, easily fought the Heartless.

" _It must be his heart telling him what to do. His heart remembers how to use the keyblade,"_ Kairi figured.

Once they were safely back in the First District, Leon lead them to a large empty house that had several bedrooms for them to use. After setting everything up in the house, and getting some food, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, and Sora prepared to get some rest before their big journey ahead. Sora had already fallen asleep on his bed, but Kairi laid awake on hers. Everything that had happened, it still was so overwhelming for her. Sora couldn't remember anything, but his heart knew who she was. Kairi was happy for that, but also sad that he didn't remember any of the fun times they had spend on the island.

"I'll find a way… There has to be some way to get you to remember…But at least you are here with me..." Kairi whispered before she finally fell asleep.

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 **Thanks for reading this chapter! And yeah this chapter only focused on Kairi and Sora. Next chapter though it will be on Roxas's side of things.  
Also with Sora in this 'remembering' Kairi and using the keyblade. Sora still has his heart, its still his and has those feelings in it, he is just missing the memory in his mind, and that's what Roxas has, the memories in the mind.**

 **Also which title you prefer, my title of "Memories Elsewhere" or the Guest suggestion of "** **Identity Catastrophe"**

 **Also don't forget to check out all my other stories. I got a ton of different Kingdom Hearts stories. See ya guys next time in the next chapter or in another story :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey and welcome to chapter 3! Woo finally finished this chapter**

 **Also another guest review has suggested a title, they said "** **Misplaced Memories" and the previous guest reviewer** **agrees** **. So either I keep the tile as "Memories Elsewhere" or change it to "Misplaced Memories". Please let me know what you think.**

 **Got nothing else to really say...so yeah... Enjoy!**

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 **Ch.3**

Sora, or really Roxas as the mysterious man had called him, had followed the man through the portal, and now he exited out of the it to find himself somewhere else. He was now in some sort of building with grey walls, with some windows to the outside revealing a nighttime sky. He looked around to see that the man that had lead him here was not there. Though Roxas did see someone else standing a few feet in front of him. He also wore a black cloak, had long blue hair, amber eyes, and an x shaped scar across his face.

"Who are you?" Roxas asked the man. "Where did the other guy go?"

The man gave him a emotionless look, "Lord Xemnas has tasked me with informing you on your situation before a meeting can take place."

"What? Meeting?" Roxas asked.

"You are here because you will be joining the Organization," the man replied.

"I didn't agree to something like that! I was just told I would get some answers what happened to me." Roxas said as he gripped his hands into fists.

"You will get answers. And then you will understand why you need join the Organization."

"Then why don't you start giving me some answers," Roxas said as he cross his arms.

"Very well…" The man said in a cold, emotionless voice. "You awoke in Twilight Town because you are a Nobody."

Roxas gasped, "What?! What do you mean by that?!"

"A Nobody is the empty shell of what remains of a person after they lose their heart," The main coldly replied.

Roxas's eyes widened in shock, "The empty shell?... Lose their heart…"

"You have lost your heart, and now you are no longer whole. You no longer have the ability to feel emotions, only recall what they once were through memoires."

"But wait...when did I…." Roxas started to trail off, but then in a flash, certain memories flooded back into his head. He gasped and muttered quietly as the realization dawned on him, "Kairi! I...I sacrificed myself to restore Kairi's heart…"

"Now you know that you are empty inside, I assume you would like to know how you can become whole again. That is the Organization's goal; to gain a heart again and become whole." The man said, but Roxas was no longer listening.

Roxas just stood there, unable to comprehend what he just heard, " _I lost my heart?...But…No...it can't be..."_ Roxas's thoughts trailed off, unable to finish. Roxas begin to feel weak in the leg, he then dropped to the floor. He started to breath heavily, as he placed his hands on his head in frustration.

"It is a lot to take it, but you will understand soon enough that this is what you are now; a Nobody. You will join the Organization and help us, help us to become whole once again. You have the keyblade, and that is what we have been looking for."

Roxas shook his head as he could feel his hands tremble, "No...No I don't believe you...It can't be true…It just can't"

"I do not care whether you believe me or not, you are a Nobody and that is all there is to know," The man said.

Roxas's head started to hurt, he still couldn't believe what he was hearing. He then noticed that the portal he had come through, was still there behind him. Standing up slowly Roxas made a quick turn around and ran through the portal, not waiting or caring what the blue-haired man had to say.

Roxas exited the portal back into the world known as Twilight Town. Roxas ran as fast as he could away from the portal and the mansion area behind him. He ran through a forest area before coming to a large whole in the wall. Carefully crawling through it he made it to the other side, and began to walk alongside the wall. His legs still felt so weak, he wasn't sure if he could stand for much longer. Only after a few more steps he dropped to the ground placing a hand on his head, all this new information was hurting his head.

" _This can't be real...I gotta be dreaming…"_ Roxas thought to himself as he placed his head against the wall behind him and closed his eyes.

"Well, you didn't make it very far," A new voice said.

Roxas opened his eyes to see a man standing in front of him. He also wore the same black cloak as the other two guys did, but this guy had bright red spikey hair, green eyes, and small purple tear drops painted onto his cheeks. Though Roxas didn't stand up, he summoned his keyblade, ready to fight.

The redhead held up his hands, "Whoa there. I am not here to fight you, just here to talk."

Roxas didn't take his eyes off the man, nor did he desummon his keybalde. He just kept silence at he started at the man before him.

"Look, I know you probably got a lot going through your mind. So I am here to help. If you need a place clear your mind and get your thoughts straight, I know of a place here. Come on," The man said as he waved for Roxas to follow him.

Roxas stared at the man a little longer before desummoning his keybalde and getting up to follow him. It was so strange, Roxas knew he had never seen this guy before, but there was a very faint sense of familiarity from the man.

He walked up to the man, who had stopped at one of the shops in the town to buy something, Roxas didn't see what it was in time before the redhead placed the items into a bag, "Just grabbing a snack," He said before he started walking in a direction with Roxas following behind him. Soon, after walking for a bit they soon came to a large clock tower. The redhead entered the building and then walked over to a staircase leading up to the top area of the clock tower.

"Whoa…" Roxas muttered as he looked out at the world in front of him. He had traveled to so many worlds, but never in any of them had he seen a sunset quiet like this one. Roxas noticed that the redhead sat down on the clock tower, with his legs hanging over the edge, Roxas decided to do the same and he sat down. The redhead then handed Roxas something, he turned to look and saw that it was a bar of blue ice cream.

"I figured you'd probably be a little hungry after waking up…" he said with a shrug.

"Thanks…" Roxas said as he took the ice cream and held it in his hands. The redhead then took out another bar of ice cream from the bag for himself, he took off the plastic on it and took a bite of it. Roxas looked at the ice cream once more before taking off the plastic and biting into it. Suddenly Roxas's eyes lit up with surprise, "Wow… It's salty but also sweet…"

The redhead nodded, "Yup. Sea Salt ice cream, really is one of a kind." A minute of silence passed before the redhead spoke again, "Name's Axel by the way, got it memorized?" He said as he placed a finger on his forehead.

"Uh...yeah…" Roxas said as he looked down at his ice cream.

"I know it's a lot to take it. Learning you have no heart anymore and stuff. But everyone in the Organization wants the same thing. We all want to get a heart again, I assume you also would want that, right?" Axel said.

Roxas slowly nodded after taking another bite of ice cream, "Yeah…" Roxas sighed, he still didn't fully understand how he had gotten here, nor he still didn't full trust this so called Organization, but if what they said it true, what choice did he have. " _If I really am… a Nobody...and these people say they are working to get their hearts back...then...what other choice do I have?"_

Roxas then agreed that he would join the Organization. After Axel and Roxas had finished up their ice cream, Axel opened up a portal and they headed through. The next events that happened were all pretty much a blur, all the information still was a little overwhelming for him. All he could really remember was being brought before the rest of the Organization, while the leader, who he learned was named Xemnas, introduce him as one of the keyblade's chosen ones. After the meeting had ended he was brought to a room, it was a pretty empty room that only had a nightstand and a bed. Opposite to the door was a large window, looking out over the castle. On the bed though was Roxas's own cloak to wear, he was told he had to wear it to protect himself from the darkness when traveling through the Corridors of Darkness.

After he was left alone, Roxas laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. The words he had heard to say still haunted him in his head. " _You are a Nobody….empty shell...lost heart….Nobody…"_

Roxas hand his hands through his hair, "Kairi...I hope you're okay now…" He muttered to himself. He then quick sat up, "Wait! Riku!..." Roxas had almost forgotten that the last time he had seen Riku… he had been possessed by a guy named Ansem. "Riku…Please be alright…" Roxas sighed as he got off the bed and looked out the window, also looking at his reflection in it, "I wonder if Donald and Goofy are looking for me….wonder if they would even recognize me now…"

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 **And I think that's a nice line to end it on XD  
Let me know what you guys think. See ya next chapter here or in another of my stories!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello! And welcome back! I finally got through this chapter. Sorry it took so long, I got stuck for a while and had a hard time writing this chapter. But now it's written!**

 **And yes I have now changed the story from "Memories Elsewhere" to "Misplaced Memories"**

 **Thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed, I am glad you guys are all liking this story. Now enjoy chapter 4!**

* * *

 **Ch.4**

Kairi awoke to hearing someone knocking on her door, she slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes, "Who...is it?" She asked with a yawn.

"It's Aerith, just letting you guys know that we are preparing some breakfast for you guys. Then Donald and Goofy want to discuss some stuff with you."

Kairi nodded sleepily, "Thank you."

With that she heard Aerith walk off down the hallway. Kairi rubbed her eyes again and stretched, as she took in her surroundings her eyes fell upon Sora, who was in the bed across from her, still fast asleep. She sighed, she was still in Traverse Town, and everything she had hoped was a dream was still real. From what it seemed Sora has almost no memories of anything at all. Kairi could only hope Sora remembered more now that he had slept.

Kairi got out of her bed and walked over to Sora's bed. She gently nudged him on the shoulder, "Hey Sora, it's time to get up."

Sora shifted slightly before opening his eyes and looking up at Kairi, "Oh… Kairi. Hello." He pushed himself up into a sitting position, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, and stretched.

"So Sora...do you remember anything else?" Kairi asked.

Sora lowered his head, "No...I still don't remember...Nothing at all…"

Kairi frowned at that, though she felt a little better seeing that Sora was a little more talkative today than the day before. Kairi sat down on the edge of Sora's bed, "Are you sure? You still remember me at least, right?"

Sora looked up to meet Kairi's eyes for a moment, "Yeah...Well…" Sora then averted his gaze from Kairi. "Not really…I don't know..."

"What?" Kairi gasped, "What do you mean? I thought yesterday…" She trailed off becoming more worried about Sora.

"I mean…" Sora sighed and looked back at Kairi, "I don't exactly remember anything… I don't remember who I really am or what exactly is going on...but when I look at you…you feel so familiar...and" Sora placed his hand over his heart, "Something in my heart...it's telling me that you are important to me. I just can't remember why…So many things and people seem familiar...I just don't remember..."

"Oh…" Kairi said as she looked down at the ground. Her eyes began to water as she thought over the current situation. " _If Sora never remembers anything...will he ever be the same?"_ Kairi's thoughts asked herself.

Just as she thought she was going to start crying she felt Sora's hand on her shoulder, "Please don't cry Kairi. Even if I can't remember the exactly details...or really anything... I know that you are important to me and I don't want to see you sad."

Kairi looked up at Sora and smiled, "Thanks Sora."

"So...Can you tell me what exactly is going on? Though I don't feel as tired as yesterday I also don't remember a whole lot of what was said," Sora said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Kairi took in a deep breath and then tried her best to explain as much as she could to Sora about what he had being doing before hand. She explained as much as she could from what she had been told by Donald and Goofy. "So now we have to head back to Hollow Bastion and seal that keyhole, and then find Riku and bring him back!"

"Riku…" Sora said. "His name also sounds familiar…"

Kairi nodded, "That's right! All three of us have been friends since we were young."

Sora smiled as he stood up, "That sounds right. We'll go find him together, right?"

"Right," Kairi said as she smiled back.

The two walked out of the room and headed to the kitchen area where food had been prepared by Aerith. After eating Sora and Kairi met up with Donald and Goofy who explained ath Cid had fixed up the Gummi Ship so they could fly back to Hollow Bastion safely without the Heartless completely destroying their ship. Once they had gathered up some items and made should that they were prepared, the four boarded the gummi ship and took off towards Hollow Bastion.

When they arrived at Hollow Bastion, they landed down at the bottom of the Rising Falls. The Beast, who Donald and Goofy knew a little about from the short bit Sora had told them when they first were in Hollow Bastion.

"What are you still doing here?" Donald asked as they walked up next to the Beast.

"Belle. She is still in the castle," Beast replied.

"Against her will?" Goofy asked.

Beast shook his head, "No, I think she stayed for a reason. The other princesses are inside as well."

"I wonder why?" Donald asked.

"We should go and ask them then," Kairi said as she summoned Sora's original keyblade. Sora nodded in agreement and summoned his new white keyblade.

"You may need my strength. I will go with you," Beast said.

The group made their way up the Rising Falls, fighting off the Heartless on the way up. Kairi started use to using the keyblade after fighting more Heartless. Kairi still kept an eye on Sora, but he still was easily fighting the Heartless like it was just natural for him.

" _I gotta keep working at it if I wanna be as good as Sora,"_ Kairi thought herself. They made their way soon into the castle where, after fighting several large Heartless, they headed into the library. Beast entered in first before the rest of the group and saw Belle.

"Belle." Beast called out to her as he walked over to her. They held their hands and embraced one another. Kairi couldn't help but smile at the sweet sight in front of her.

Once Beast and Belle had their embrace they let go and looked at Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy. "You've come to seal the Keyhole, right?" Belle asked, "Please, be careful. The darkness is raging deep inside. We've been holding it back, but we can't hold out much longer."

"Well that's what we are here for," Kairi said, "We'll take care of it."

Belle smiled, "Thank you," She then walked over to one of the bookshelves and stared looking over the books there.

The group then made their way down to the Castle Chapel, where the other five princesses were. After briefly talking to them about sealing the keyhole and the darkness, and why Kairi was with them, the group finally headed back to the Grand Hall, where the large keyhole still remained open and surrounded by Heartless. After destroying all the current Heartless in the room, Kairi and Sora walked up and stood in front of the large heart-shaped doorway.

"This…place" Sora muttered as he looked around the area, "Something about it…"

Kairi's hand trembled as she gripped the keyblade tightly, " _Do I tell him...this is the place he disappeared right in front of my eyes. When I thought I lost him…"_ Kairi gripped the keyblade even tighter as the memories replayed in her head, " _I don't think I would be able to…Not yet at least...Maybe he already figured it out..."_

"So once we clear out the Heartless in there we should be able to seal the keyhole right?" Donald asked as he and Goofy walked up to Sora and Kairi.

"That sounds 'bout right," Goofy replied.

Kairi stared at the colorful portal in front of her, she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. She then felt someone hold her open hand, she opened her eyes to see Sora standing next to her.

He gave her a warm smile as he continued to hold her hand, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," Kairi said as she smiled back.

The group then walked into the portal in front of them and entered the Dark Depths. Inside was dark abyss all around them. Several feet in front of them though was a large Behemoth Heartless, it walked towards them, and roared angrily.

"It's huge!" Kairi gasped. "Are we going to be able to take it down?"

"I'm sure we can," Sora said, sounding confident. "We are all here together, we can do this."

The four then got in battle stances and ran at the Behemoth. Though their attacks seemed to have no effect against it. It roared angrily stomping its feet on the ground, causing the group to be knocked back.

"We gotta find its weakness!" Donald shouted.

The Behemoth lunged at the group causing everyone to fall back. But Sora quickly got up and ran at it, this time though he jumped up onto it's back and ran to the black horn in the middle of its head. Sora smacked his keybalde against the Behemoths horn several times before falling off the Behemoth and landing back on the ground. It roared agnerly and stepped backwards. "Its weakness is its horn!"

The group once again ran at the Behemoth, but this time they aimed their attacked at its horn. It shrieked loudly as it stomped on the ground again, making everything around them shake. The Behemoth roared again as a electricity formed around its center horn. In the blink of an eye lighting shot down all around the Behemoth, knocking everyone down. Kairi slowly got back up and ran behind the Behemoth, and jumped up onto it's back. Carefully she made her way to its head where she smacked it as hard as she could with the keyblade. The Behemoth then jumped around, knocking Kairi off it. Kairi tumbled to the ground and let out a groan.

"Kairi!" Sora shouted as he ran over to her.

Kairi was starting to get up the Behemoth jumped again, and the force of it hitting the ground knocked Kairi right back down to the ground and knocked Sora back.

Kairi cried out in pain as she hit the ground again. She looked up to see the Behemoth was charing another attack of lighting, but before it could strike again Sora jumped up and striked the horn, stunning the Behemoth momentarily. It clospaled down to the ground, making it easier to attack the horn. Sora then landed back down on the ground and stood in front of Kairi.

Sora, Donald and Goofy struck the Behemoth a few more times until roared and completely collapsed to the ground, disappearing just seconds later.

"Are you okay Kairi?" He asked.

"Yeah," Kairi said as she slowly sat up. She groan as she stretched her arms out. She had never done anything like this before and now her whole body ached. "I'm just a little sore I guess."

"This should help," Donald said before raising his wand up in the air. He then shouted "Curaga!" And a light green magical glow fell over Kairi. The small bruised over Kairi's body faded away as well as the aches and pains.

"Thank you Donald," Kairi said.

Sora then stood up and held out his hand for her. Kairi took it and Sora pulled her up and then immediately into a hug.

"I'm glad your okay," Sora whispered into her ear.

"I'm fine, as long as we are together I know I will be alright," Kairi whispered back as she returned a hug.

"Now let's go and seal that big Keyhole!" Goofy said cheerfully once Sora and Kairi let go from their hug.

"Sora. Kairi. You guys did it." A voice said, coming from outside the Dark Depths.

The four headed out of the area and back into the Grand Hall, where they saw Leon, Yuffie and Aerith.

"How did you guys get here?" Kairi asked.

"We came in Cid's ship," Yuffie answered.

"This is our childhood home. We wanted to see it again," Aerith added.

"It's in worse shape than I feared. It used to be so peaceful…" Leon said.

Kairi looked at the three and then thought about when she arrived here with Sora. She hadn't thought about it, but when she saw this castle, there was something about it that remind her of something, but she didn't know what it was.

"Don't worry. If we defeat Ansem, all should be restored. Including the island you guys are from," Aerith said looking ar Sora and Kairi.

"Really? We can actually go home after this?" Kairi asked.

Yuffie nodded, "But, it also means goodbye."

"What do you mean?" Sora asked.

"Once the worlds are restored, they'll all be separate again," Aerith replied.

"Everyone will go back to where they came from," Yuffie added in.

"Can't we...come and visit you guys somehow? Like with the Gummi Ship?" Sora asked.

Leon crossed his arms, "It's not that simple."

"Before all this, you didn't really know about the other worlds," Yuffie said.

"Because every world was isolated. Impassable walls divided them," Aerith explained.

"The Heartless destroyed those walls. But if the worlds return, so will the walls," Yuffie said.

"Which means gummi ships will be useless…" Leon stated.

So...that means...we'll never...?" Sora started to say

The three lowered their heads in sadness, "We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other," Leon said.

"No matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again," Aerith said sweetly.

Sora looked down at the ground, they looked back at the group of three. He placed his hand over his heart, "I may not have my memories of you guys...but I know in my in my heart, I won't ever forget."

Yuffie chuckled, "That's good to know. I couldn't forget you even if I wanted to."

Sora frowned, looking a little confused, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Sora! Kairi!" Donald shouted.

The two turned around to see Donald and Goofy standing next to the keyhole portal entrance, as darkness was flowing out of it.

"Hurry! Come and close the Keyhole!" Goofy shouted.

"Good luck you two," Leon said with a nod of his head.

The two then ran back towards the key shaped portal and headed back inside. There at the far end of the area was a large Heartless symbol with a keyhole at the bottom of it. Both Kairi and Sora summoned their keyblades. Kairi looked at her keyblade and then at the keyhole. "Uhh how do we…"

Before Kairi couldn't finish her sentence Sora raised his keyblade and pointed it at the keyhole, Immediately the tip of his keyblade glowed and struck the keyhole right in the center. The keyhole glowed brightly, then seconds later a locking sound was heard and the Heartless symbol in front of them disappeared.

"Sora, did you remember how to do that?" Kairi asked as she desummoned her keyblade.

"Uh…" Sora said as he looked at his keyblade, "I don't know…Maybe? It just came to me that I should do that."

Kairi smiled as she put her hands behind her back, "Good. That means you might be remembering things." Sora smiled back as they headed back outside and headed to the chapel area again, where Cinderella, Alice, Snow White, Jasmine, and Aurora were waiting to talk to them.

"Thank you, Sora and Kairi. I think the darkness has begun to weaken," Alice said.

"But I can feel a powerful darkness growing somewhere far away," Jasmine said.

"It's the heart of the darkness. It must be where Ansem went," Aurora added.

"Well that means we will just have to go find Ansem and defeat him," Sora said.

"Once we defeat him, the Heartless will probably go away, right?" Kairi asked.

"That is what we assume," Cinderella said.

"Once the darkness is gone, all should return to its original state," Aurora said.

"What does that mean for us?" Kairi asked.

"You two will get to return to your island," Cinderella replied.

"We can't go home yet. Not until we find Riku." Kairi stated.

"And the King too," Donald added.

Once they had finished talking with the princesses they headed to the library where Leon, Yuffie and Aerith now were. After a brief discuss about Ansem's reports and the darkness. The four finally were ready to head out and find where Ansem was.

As they were heading out of the castle though Sora spoke up, "Hey Kairi?"

"Yeah Sora?" She asked.

"Are you sure you still want to come along?" He asked quietly as he stopped walking.

Kairi also stopped, "What do you mean?"

"I don't want to see you get hurt...maybe it would be best if you waited here," Sora said.

Kairi shook her head and smile, "Sora, we've been through so much together already. We have to continue together."

"But-" Sora started to say, but Kairi cut him off.

"We have to find Riku together, I'm not going to let you go alone. And besides," Kairi smiled again as she placed her hands behind her back, "I want to be with you in case you remember anything."

Sora chuckled, "I can't stop you can I?"

Kairi nodded, "Nope."

"Alright then. Let's go." Sora said as he reached out and held her hand his in. They then started walking again to catch up with Donald and Goofy.

* * *

 **So now I gotta make choice here. Stick with Sora and Kairi for the next few chapters and write out the stuff with Ansem. Or switch back to Roxas.  
I think I may have the next chapter be Sora and Kairi again because if I can write the ending of KH1 in the next chapter then I can switch to Roxas for a while. **

**Anyways, thanks for reading everyone! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I tried my best to make it what is it. Writing fight scenes isn't my strongest suit, but I am working on it. The hardest part of this story though is going to be the Chain of Memories part...I got a lot of thinking to do for that one.**


	5. Chapter 5

So sorry this took so long to get to! I had a really hard time getting through most of this and then I got distracted with other things and forgot about this. But I finally got it finished! Woo!

Also BIG THANKS to everyone who has read this story and all that. I am glad a lot of you are enjoying it. I hope you all enjoy what I have in store.

Now enjoy the long awaited chapter!

* * *

 **Ch.5**

Once on the Gummi Ship, Donald took the pilot seat and prepared for take off. A strange warp portal had shown up near Hollow Bastion with a lot of darkness emanating from it. Carefully, the Gummi Ship was piloted through the warp portal, fighting off any Heartless that happened to be in there.

After several minutes of traveling, they came upon something that seemed to resemble a world, but it looked very different. After setting the Gummi Ship is a standby mode, the four were teleported down to the world before. They were all teleported into a small cave area, when they walked out they all gasped at the site in front of them.

A strange empty void-like land with a sea of purplish darkness all around them. THere was no sound except for a eerie howling of wind.

"Gawrsh, is that all that's left of the worlds taken by the Heartless?" Goofy asked.

Kairi shuttered at the sight of the place in front of her. So much darkness and emptiness. But she then felt Sora hold on to her hand, which helped calm her down.

"So once we find Ansem and defeat him...the worlds will be restored?" Sora asked.

"You betcha," Donald said.

"But what will happen to this place when we defeat Ansem? If all the worlds are restored and are disconnected…This place..." Kairi said, but trailed off, not knowing what to say next.

"Well.. uh…" Donald started to say, but found himself at a loss for words.

"This is a Heartless world, so maybe it'll just disappear," Goofy said.

"Huh?!" The other three said in union as they looked back at Goofy.

"But no worries. Even if this place goes poof, our hearts ain't goin' nowhere. I'm sure we'll find our pals again. Yup, I just know that we will," Goofy explained, with a tone of hopefulness.

"Yeah, you're right," Sora said with a nod. He then looked over at Kairi, still holding her hand, "We'll find Riku and then return home together. I promise."

Kairi smiled back before the group headed out into the strange land before them. Preparing to fight off any Heartless that showed up. They made their way across the world, fighting off a large variety of big and powerful Heartless. Sora and Kairi stayed close by each other's side as they destroy the Heartless around them. Slowly, but surely, Kairi was getting the hang of using a keyblade more and more.

After fighting off many Heartless and traveling in the strange world, they finally came to an area that had a hole in the ground. As the four leaned over and looked into the large hole, they could hear the wind ranging and darkness flowing from down below. But there also seemed to be some kind of magical force surrounding the area as well.

"What do you think is down there?" Kairi asked.

"Somethin' bad probably. Maybe a Heartless," Goofy pondered.

"But...we have to go down right?" Sora asked. "There isn't anywhere else to go."

"Will we be safe just jumping down there?" Kairi asked, taking a step back from the hole.

"There is some magic at work," Donald said. "It should be fine."

Kairi continued to stare down at the hole with uncertainty. That is until she felt Sora take hold of her hand. He gave her a familiar, cheerful smile. "We'll go together, okay?"

Kairi nodded, "Okay."

Goofy and Donald jumped down into the hole first, after they jumped Sora and Kairi jumped down together and fell into the dark abyss below. Kairi immediately closed her eyes as they began their fall. It felt like they were going to keep falling, but suddenly they stopped. They hadn't touched ground anywhere, and they were clearly still in the sky.

Slowly Kairi opened her eyes and let out a gasp. "We're floating?!"

Looking around Kairi saw that they were still in a dark abyss. There was nothing below them, but there was one lone thing far in front of them. A large looking mountain of sorts. But they were all floating in the sky. Kairi found herself holding onto Sora's hand a little tighter, afraid she may fall at any seconds.

"I guess this was the magic then?" Sora asked and Donald nodded.. "So we're...flying...it feels familiar. Have I...flown before?"

"Yeah we did get to once before," Goofy said. "When we met a boy named Peter Pan earlier in our journey."

"Oh…" Sora looked down and sighed a little, "It all sounds familiar...I just really wish I could actually remember it."

"I'm sure you will remember it," Kairi said. "I wanna be able to hear about your adventure one day."

"Thanks," Sora smiled back a little. "But now where do we go? That mountain?"

At that moment the mountain began to shake and slowly started to change. Everyone stared in shock as something was forming from the mountain.

"Uh. I don't think that's mountain," Goofy commented.

From the mountain formed a large demon like creature. It was far larger than any of them expected, with long arms with claws and a huge set of wings. It let out a loud roar as it stretched them out. Darkness swirled around it as its eyes fell upon the four.

"I guess we gotta fight it. Let's go," Sora said with newfound determination.

Everyone else nodded as they summoned their weapons back and started to fly towards the large creature. The demon spotted them and began to flap its wings fiercely. The strong gusts of winds knocked everyone back just as they were getting close.

"Aah!" Kairi screamed as she was forced back by the strength of the winds. But before she could blow back any further she felt Sora grab onto her arm and pull her in closely. A look of worry and panic had spread across his face. "You alright?"

Kairi slowly nodded, still a little shaken from the event, "Yeah."

The two then flew back towards the creature, keyblades in hand and ready to strike. They flew up right to it's face and began their attacks. Donald and Goofy also made it up there with them and helped attack. The demon creature tried to attack them several more times, with breathing fire and creating more strong winds. They group struggled for a while, but soon they got the hang of dodging the demon's fire attacks and everything else.

The demon soon was being worned down. It started to prepare another fire attack at the group, but just before it could fire it, Sora stood directly in front of its face and held his keyblade out in front of him.

"Blizzaga!" He shouted and shards of ice came shooting out the front of his keyblade. The ice flew forward and struck the demon right in the face causing it to let out a roar of pain.

Kairi wanted to stare in amazement at what Sora had just done. Had he always been able to use magic? Was this another thing he just remembered? She wanted to ask him, but knew they had to finish the fight first. Flying right up towards the demon, she smacked the keyblade against it with all her strength. Though thoughts of possibly her being able to use magic crossed her mind as well.

With the final blows being dealt to the demon it soon roared out as darkness started to seem off its body. It soon burst into darkness and faded away, leaving the mountain it was in open below. Everyone floating in the sky sighed with relief, finally having a chance to catch their breaths. After Donald casted Curaga, Kairi made her way over to Sora.

"You used magic Sora," Kairi commented. "Did you remember how to do that?"

Sora nodded, "Yeah I think so. Again it's just something that just came to me in my mind and seemed like the thing to do."

"That must mean your getting better!" Goofy chimed in happily.

Sora smiled, "Thanks, I really hope so."

"I wonder if I can maybe use magic," Kairi said as she thought over the magic she had seen Donald use so far.

"Maybe you could," Donald said. "Who knows really. Maybe try something later on."

After looking around the dark area a little more, the only place they saw they could go was down into the mountain in which the creature had been sitting in. They slowly descended down into the creator in the mountain, carefully examining their surroundings.

Once they reached ground level more Heartless started to show up. Without hesitation the group went and into action. They made their way through several levels of darkness underground areas filled with Heartless. Not once did the Heartless ever seem to lighten up. But as they fought, every once and awhile Kairi would take a shot at trying to use magic. Nothing happened at the first few tries, but with enough concentration Kairi managed to figure out fire, blizzard, and cure. Magic seemed to be rather easy for her to catch on to.

After Heartless and more Heartless they finally reached a room that had no Heartless at all. It had a tranquil and peaceful feeling to it. And at the end of the room was a large fancy looking door. Everyone wandered around as they relaxed for the time they had. Sora came up to the door and stared at it.

"Huh?" Sora said looking around him.

"Something wrong?" Kairi asked as she walked over to him.

"Don't you hear something?" Sora asked as he closed his eyes.

"I don't hear anything," Donald said.

Sora looked down at the ground in thought, "Strange… That voice was so familiar. Maybe it was just my imagination…"

"Maybe you need to rest a little longer," Goofy said.

"You said the voice was familiar? Can you tell me what it sounded like?" Kairi asked with curiosity.

Sora shook his head, "No… it's hard to explain. I know I have heard the voice before...but I just don't know where."

"Oh… I see," Kairi said with a little sigh.

The group rested a little more until they felt they were ready to open the door to where ever it lead. A bright light shined through as soon as they opened the door. Once they made it through the light, they found themselves to be somewhere very different.

Sora took a step forward and stared with wide eyes, "This is… I mean is this…" Sora looked over at Kairi who had a surprised expression on her face as she looked around. "This is the island we're from, isn't is?"

"Yeah...but something doesn't feel right. Something feels off…" Kairi said.

" _This world has been connection,"_ A ominous, deep voice echoing around them.

Part of the island around them vanished into nothingness.

"What was that?" Goofy asked as they all looked around for a source to the voice.

" _Tied to the darkness… Soon to be completely eclipsed."_ The voice said as more parts of the islands disappeared around them. " _There is so very much to learn."_ The pretty blue ocean in front of them turned to a dark purple. " _You understand so little. A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing."_

The ground around them began to shake and large deep cracks formed along the ground and even the sky. The world around them began to fall into a darkness filled land. Kairi shuddered at the sight of her home being destroyed like this. As she scanned the now destroyed shoreline her eyes locked onto someone standing at the edge of the land.

"Sora… look!" Kairi said as she pointed out at the figure.

"Is...is that…Riku?" Sora asked.

"Come on!" Kairi said as they ran down the beach towards the person.

But just as they got close they could feel a dark presence in the air. They stopped just a few feet away. Whom they thought was Riku still faced away from them, looking out at the emptiness in front of him.

"Take a look at this tiny place. To the heart seeking freedom this is a prison surrounded by water. And so this boy sought out to escape from his prison," The deep voice spoke. Sounding like it was coming right from Riku. "He sought a way to cross over into other worlds. And he opened his heart to darkness." Riku raised his hands up in the air slowly, before turning around and facing the group. When he did, the image of Riku faded away, and now stood a tall, dark skinned man with amber eyes. It was not Riku...but the man known as Ansem Seeker of Darkness! He smiled cruelly at the four while crossing his arms.

"Riku!" Both Sora and Kairi shouted in union.

"Don't bother. Your voice can no longer reach him where he is. His heart belongs again to darkness. All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it, it grows, consumes it. Such is its nature," Ansem said as he vanished from in front of them. "In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came." Ansem's voice now came from behind the group, now floating above the ground. Sora jumped back a little and glared up at Ansem.

"You see, darkness is the heart's true essence," Ansem said as he crossed his arms again.

"That...That's not true!" Sora shouted, speaking up. "The heart may be weak. And sometimes it may even give in. But I've know that deep down, there's a light that never goes out! No matter what!"

Ansem stared coldly as he rose up higher in the air. "So, you have come this far and still you understand nothing. Every light must fade, every heart return to darkness!" Ansem shouted before a large Heartless appeared from behind him and everyone took to a battle stance.

Kairi and Sora charged right at Ansem, both of them wanted to get back at him for what he had done to Riku. But just as they were about to hit, Ansem chuckled. "Come, Guardian!" The Heartless from behind Ansem flew in front of him and deflected the attack.

The Guardian then swung down its hands at Sora and Kairi knocked them harshly to the ground. Kairi hit the ground hard with a groan. Slowly standing back up she quickly held up her keyblade in defense as Ansem's Heartless Guardian was now throwing some kind of darkness at her.

Everyone attacked the Guardian as much as they could, but it just seemed to deflect every attack they gave it. Soon enough though it went back to behind Ansem. Sora charged right at Ansem and was ready to strike, but again before he could the Guardian appeared behind him and grabbed hold of him. Sora struggled against the tight grip of the Heartless, trying to get lose.

"Sora!" Kairi shouted before she ran behind the Guardian and jumped up to attack it. As soon as she struck it with her keyblade it dropped Sora and he tumbled back down to the ground. With a puff of darkness the Guardian returned back to Ansem as Kairi ran to Sora.

"Cure!" She shouted as she quickly helped Sora up. Sora nodded in thanks as they returned attention to Ansem and his Heartless helper.

"Come, open your heart," Ansem chuckled cynically as he raised his arms up, darkness swirling around them.

All at once everyone ran in for an attack, this time actually managed to hit Ansem. They knocked him around a few times before he summons his Guardian upfront again.

Kairi took a step back and decided to try again at some magic, though she knew hers was not very strong yet, she still went and tried. "Blizzard!" A large ball of ice flew out from the tip of the keyblade and struck the Guardian head on. The Guardian glared over at Kairi as it tried to swipe its claw like hands at her. Kair ran back a bit, hoping the Heartless would follow, and it did. While the Guardian was distracted with Kair, this gave the chance for Sora, Donald and Goofy to directly attack Ansem.

Kairi turned around and face the Guardian, gripping the keyblade tightly in her hands. With a suddenly burst of determination she charged at the Guardian and began attacking it repeatedly. She smacked it back and forth until it started to wavey and faded back over towards Ansem.

The other three were fighting off Ansem and seemed to have the upper hand until he caused a large forcefield around him, knocking everyone back. He then sneered as he flew backwards towards a larger opening in the ground. Once he vanished into the darkness the ground.

There was dead silence around them now. No sounds of anything, besides their footsteps along the corrupted sands. Kairi ran back over to the other three, who were catching their breaths as they had some sips from potions.

The ground began to tremble and shake as the large tree in the center of the island split open, revealed a dark and eerie area.

"Come on! We can't lose him!" Sora shouted as they all ran towards the newly formed hole in the ground.

Sora and Kairi jumped down into the dark caverness area, but a invisible magic barrier caused Donald and Goofy to be blocked from entered. Sora looked up at Donald and Goofy and then over to Kairi, "I guess it is just us for now."

"We can handle it though," Kairi said with a ehtumstic smile.

"Are you holding up okay though?" Sora asked.

Kairi paused for a second as she thought about it. She never had felt so excited, scared, and determined in all her life. Never before had she ever done something quite like this. It did take a lot of energy and strength out of her, having to fight all these heartless, but Kairi did not want to give up. Not only did she wanna help Sora remember everything, but of course she always wanted to find what happened to Riku. She knew though, as long as she was by Sora's side, they could manage anything together.

Just as Kairi was about to answer, the ground shook again and out of the darkness below them a large Heartless rose out of it. It was several stories tall and had bright yellow glowing eyes. A Darkside Heartless.

"I think… I've seen that Heartless before…" Sora commented as he looked up at it.

"And you've defeated it before?" Kairi asked as she readidy her keyblade.

"I'm not sure...but I know we can do it together!" Sora said as he gripped his fist and smiled.

"Then let's go!" Kairi said as she raised her keyblade into the air.

The two of them went and attacked the Darkside from both sides. They worked together to attack any little Shadow Heartless that appeared and also dodging as many of the attacks from the Darkside as they could.

It was hard to try to deflect and dodge every single one of the Darkside's attacks, but they two of them pushed through and through. It was a bit challenging without Donald and Goofy to help, but eventually Sora and Kairi managed to defeat the Darkside. It crumbled down to the ground and faded into the darkness.

Several feet above them in the air, Ansem reappeared from out of the darkness, with the gaudrain Heartless right behind him again. He came closer down to the ground as the Guardian raises its hands up in the air, seeming to generate energy of some kind. It then swung its hands down towards the ground and the electric energy ran across the ground right towards Sora and Kairi.

Jumping in the opposite direction of the energy blasts, they just barely managed to get out of the way. Sora and Kairi knew this battle was going to be harder without Donald or Goofy to back them up, but they didn't once lose their energy or fierce determination. They worked their hardest to attack Ansem and his Guardian.

Finally after fighting and fighting, they delivered what they thought were the finally blows, but the area around them soon became encased in darkness. Ansem faded away back into the darkness as it slowly consumed everything.

"Sora!" Kairi cried as she ran over to him. "W-What's happening?"

"I… I don't know," Sora said as he instinctively wrapped his arms around Kairi, "Just hold tight. We will make it through this. Whatever Ansem throws next at us, we are sticking together."

They held each other in a tight embrace as the world around them faded into the darkness and they felt like had begun to fall into the dark abyss before them.

* * *

So originally I was going to write all the way until the end of Kingdom Hearts 1 time...but boy that would be super super long. This chapter already is pretty long by me. And I still am not that great at writing fight scenes yet. I hope you liked what I did though, I still am improving though!

So yeah. Next chapter will still be with Sora and Kairi. Hopefully finish to the end of KH1 story. Then I will switch back to Roxas's side of things after that.

See you all next time or in another story! Thanks for reading.


	6. Chapter 6

**Did I finally do it? I finally got back to this? I DID! So sorry for the long wait. The writer's block on this story was bad. But I finally managed to get through it!**

 **Thanks you all SO MUCH for the support on this. I swear I looked away for one moment and then I saw so many people really were enjoying it. It means a lot to me.**

* * *

 **Ch.6**

Slowly Kairi opened her eyes as she felt herself falling slowly. Though in the next second she stopped falling and now was just floating. She blinked a few times to see that she was still in the arms of Sora, and next to them were Donald and Goofy. But once she looked around she saw nothing but darkness.

"Sora,: Kairi said quietly.

"Wha…?" Sora asked as he opened his eyes. "Where… are we?"

Before anyone could answer, a different voice echoed around them. "Behold the endless abyss! Within it lies the heart of all worlds."

"Kingdom Hearts!" Ansem proclaimed. "Look as hard as you are able. You'll not find

even the smallest glimmer of light. From those dark depths are all hearts born. Even yours."

Everyone turned around and their eyes widened at what they saw. Far off in the distance was a extremely tall white door. But that seemed to be all that was there.

Though Sora turned and let out a gasp, causing everyone else turn to look where. There wasn't just that in the vast darkness, there was on other thing that stuck out. There was a large monstrous creature, and attacked by strange cable-like things was Ansem.

"Darkness conquers all worlds!" Ansem shouted loudly, his voice echoing through the emptiness around them.

A strong force of gravity hit the group of four. Suddenly Kairi felt like she could no longer stay floating there and begun to fall into the darkness below. She let out a short scream as she began to fall, though a second later Sora's arms wrapped around her and held her close.

"Sora!"

"I'm not going to let you go. Not going to lose you," Sora muttered as they fell.

Though as they thought they were going to fall into the darkness, a voice echoed in Sora's head.

" _Come on Sora, I know you are stronger than this."_

Sora's eyes widened as he recognized the sound of the voice. His descent slowed as he started to feel a confidence within him. Kairi looked at him and saw that they were no longer falling and were floating again in the darkness.

"Sora? What happened?"

"I… I heard someone. Don't know who… but they sound familiar. They sound like someone close to me…"

" _Could it be… Riku?"_ Kairi thought to herself, but she didn't have time to ask as Sora spoke up again.

"Come on, let's go find Donald and Goofy and defeat Ansem."

Kairi nodded, feeling more confident again. Both of them started to fly back up int h darkness towards the giant creature that Ansem was attached to. Both of them summoned their keyblades as they got closer to Ansem, and readied to attack.

* * *

The large monster started to burst and explode as Ansem struggled to stay near it. He shouted as the blasts tried to consume him along with the monstrous creature, but he flew away, closer to the large white doors. Once the monster was gone, he stood there, staring down the group as he painted heavy.

Sora, Kairk, Donald and Goofy on the other hand had their weapons at the ready, as they awaited for Ansem's next move. Donald quickly gave a heal to everyone as they had been fighting for much longer than they thought they would have. They had gone through several levels of the monster, destroying different sections and taking out all the Heartless within it.

Kairi was still surprised she had lasted that long. It was still hard for her to get to use to fighting, but she knew of course that she was picking up things faster. Her magic skill had been increasing throughout, and it seemed Sora was remembering more and more spells and different attacks. Kairi knew it was not the time to ask Sora, but she was wondering again if any memories or anything else had come back to him yet.

Kairi gripped onto the keyblade tightly. She tried to stop thinking about how Sora was handling everything. She knew that could be discussed for later. Ansem was still alive, though weaken, and he seemed ready to go at it again possibly.

Ansem though started to chuckle at the group. "It is futile. The Keyblade alone cannot seal the door to darkness."

He whirled around and faced the large white doors. He stretched out his hands as a crazed look spread across his face. "Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the power of darkness…"

The large white doors slowly started to open, large wisps of darkness flowed out in every direction. Everyone gasped as they watched what was happening. Ansem floated up higher in the air as he waited for the darkness to come out to him. "Supreme darkness…"

"What are we going to do?" Kairi asked aloud.

Sora floated a bit forward, a strong, determined look was on his face. "You're wrong Ansem. That's not true about Kingdom Hearts."

Kairi moved forward slightly, trying to read Sora's expression. Right then and there he looked so serious and determined. Though Kairi was also trying to figure out where Sora was going with his thoughts. A second later Sora turned to her and gave a smile. In that moment she easily knew what he was going to say. He held out his hand and gave an expression that he wanted Kairi to say it with him. Kairi nodded as she took his hand.

Then with a deep breath both of of them spoke in union.

"Kingdom Hearts… is light!"

In less than a second light ended up bursting out from the doors, shining directly at Ansem. He raised his hands to cover his face as the light spread out everywhere. It kept spreading farther around him, slowly consuming.

"Light… But… Why…" a faint murmur could be heard from him as he was completely consumed by the light.

Everyone closed their eyes for the moment as the light grew brighter. When it faded, Ansem was gone, and all that was left was the door, which was still open. Darkness still started to flow out of it, and it was slowing increasing in the amount they saw.

Kairi moved forward towards it, "Hurry! We need to close it!"

They all flew closer until they were above the small bit of ground area that was around the doors. Immediately they ran as fast as they could and started to push against the extremely tall door, to try and get it to close. Pushing as hard as they could, they thought that all four of them could do it, but it was proving to be far heavier than they thought.

Goofy gasped as he stopped for a moment to look what exactly was inside the doors. Donald grumbled at him as he still struggled to push the door. "Stop staring and keep pushing!"

But then he too slowed from pushing and stared, with his curiosity getting the best of him. Both Sora and Kairi leaned over slightly to also look at what they were gawking at. Behind the door was a vast dark realm, filled with hundreds of Heartless. Many of them huge and towering over everything else there.

"The Heartless!?" Donald and Goofy shouted together, never before seeing so many large Heartless all in one place.

Donald quickly shook his head and went back to pushing the door. "Hurry!"

Kairi tried to shove against the door as hard as she could. They could almost feel it moving slightly, but it still would not budge over all. "What are we going to do…"

"I don't know…" Sora muttered. "I don't think I can…"

"Don't give up," a new voice said.

Both Sora and Kairi looked up to see a hand holding on to the door from the otherside. Kairi's eyes widened as she saw Riku standing there, giving a small smile. Her gripped on the door slipped as she nearly fell to the group. But she stood back up and stared right at Riku.

"Riku…" Kairi muttered as stared, having a mix of feelings surface in her. She still cared for Riku of course, but after what had happened with him there was a little bit of fear that it could happen again. She also had no idea how he was there, but in that short moment, she still felt glad to see him again.

Sora on the other hand just stared directly at Riku, though he didn't say a word. He could feel something in his heart though. Something ached as Sora stared at the boy before him. He knew this boy. He knew that he should remember, but of course he still had no memories. And seeing the boy in front of him but not being able to remember, it hurt him slightly.

"Come on guys! Together, we can do this."

Both Sora and Kairi snapped out of their thoughts and nodded to Riku. They went back to pushing the door and now surprisingly it started to move closer to being closed. But it still was a still not moving fast enough. The Heartless were still appearing and getting closer to the door, and it started to make the door strangely heavier.

"It's hopeless!" Donald whined.

Kairi shook her head. "We can't give up though! We have to keep trying!"

Before anyone could response, a sound was heard coming from behind the door. Donald and Goofy looked once more to see someone far in the back jumping around and destroying the Heartless. The shadowed figure then jumped onto a lower area of the ground and light formed around them, illuminating their figure.

"Your Majesty!" Donald and Goofy shouted in surprise to see their king, Mickey.

Mickey held up a keybalde with a golden blade and silver handle. He held it up in the air before he shouting over to everyone.

"Now, Sora! Let's close this door for good!"

Sora started as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing and what was being said. Kairi looked Sora and then into the darkness behind the door. She felt a warm light form under her hands and the keyblade was summoned in the next second. She glanced at it and then at the one that Mickey was holding. They looked nearly the same except their colors were reversed. Slowly Kairi started to piece together what was suppose to happen. She unsummoned the keyblade for the moment though as she went back to pushing the door closed.

"B-But…" Sora said as stared forward, still trying to push the door closed.

"Don't worry. There will always be a door to the light," Mickey answered.

"Sora, you can trust King Mickey," Goofy said reassuringly.

Mickey turned around a bit more and looked towards Donald and Goofy. He thanked them sincerely before turning away and readily his keyblade. Riku looked at Sora and Kairi and gave a small smile.

"Take care of each other," he whispered softly before the door closed.

Sora stood there now that the door was closed and started to wonder what would happen. Kairi then resummoned the keyblade and held it out to Sora. "I think you will need this keyblade."

Sora looked at it for a moment before grabbing it, gripping the handle tightly. He nodded as he held up the keyblade in the air. Light formed at the tip of it and it slowly was building up. The light shot up into the air and the door started to glow brightly. After a few seconds it faded away into nothingness. The only thing left in the void was a strange, long and winding path leading off to somewhere.

Sora lowered the keyblade and looked back at Kairi. "Here, now you can use it again."

"Thanks Sora," Kairi said as she took back the keyblade and unsummoned it. "But now what? Where do we go from here?"

"I guess we just follow this path and see where it leads," Goofy suggested.

Kairi stared at the long path before them. None of them could see where it ended, but there was nothing else around them but darkness. So slowly all four of them started to walk along the path. Kairi closed her eyes briefly as she tried to take in a few deep breaths. So much had happened in such a short amount of time and she still had not been able to catch a proper relaxing moment for herself.

She then felt Sora wrapped his hand around hers. Sora looked at her with a concerned glance. "Are you going to be all right?"

Kairi nodded. "Of course. Just trying to think everything through. We made it this far though, can't stop now."

With a nod the two of them kept on walking, wondering exactly where they would end up. But they knew that they would stick together. There was still many things left unanswered, like Sora's memory loss, but Kairi hoped at least they could find their answers soon.

* * *

 **I hope this was good enough. I struggled so much with this chapter because I was not going ot be able to write that very long final boss battle. Sorry that I skipped it, but I just thought it was for the best. So now I am past this block I think I can get better into the swing of things again!**

 **Next chapter though will be back with Roxas!**

 **Thank you once again for reading! Also don't forget to check out my profile for all my other stories~**


	7. Chapter 7

**Omg I finally got this done. This was so much longer than I expect. So erm I know last chapter I said we would get to Roxas's side of things. But after some thinking, I remembered I wanted to start the CoM stuff first. So I got this nice long chapter done for you guys. Hope that is all right.**

 **Thank you for the support! And enjoy!**

* * *

 **Ch.7**

The group had walked for sometime, and already the path had lead to a unknown world. None of them were able to recognize what this world was, but they took it as a sign to keep going. Sora and Kairi walked side by side, with their hands still holding on to each other. Even without his memories, Sora felt more at ease being closer to Kairi. He already knew that she was important to him, he just wished he could remember the details already for everything.

After a few more minutes of walking, Donald finally spoke up. "Well, now what do we do?"

"I'm not sure… what is there that we can do?" Sora asked, trying to think what would make the most sense.

"I think…" Kairi started. "That we should try and find a way to Riku, oh as well as your king," Kairi said before looking to Donald and Goofy.

"But, uh, where do we start lookin' for that there door to the light?" Goofy asked.

All four of them stopped to think for a moment. All of them tried their best to think of the answer to that, but none of them could say anything. This was all more complicated than they had thought, and they had no idea where to even go from where they were. They still did not know how they even ended up there, so it still left many questions.

Suddenly Donald looked up and saw a yellow dog walking ahead of them by several feet. "Pluto?"

The dog stopped and looked over at the group, wagging his tail happily. "Hey, Pluto. Where have you been?" Goofy asked.

It only took Sora a moment to look at the dog, and notice that something was in its mouth. It looked like a piece of paper rolled up with a little seal on top of it to hold it closed. "What's that?" he asked as he pointed towards it.

"Hey!" Donald gasped.

"What is it?" Kairi asked,

"Gawrsh, that's the king's seal!" Goofy added.

Pluto continued to stand there, just staring at the group. He tilted his head slightly as he blinked slowly at them. The four of them carefully and slowly made their way over to Pluto, as they did not want to excite him and have him run off.

"Does that mean he has seen the king?" Sora asked as he glanced to the paper in Pluto's mouth.

Sora reached out towards Pluto, planning to grab the paper, but just as he got close, Pluto turned around and started running further down the road. Sora blinked for a moment as he watched the dog run off. "H-Hey! Come back!"

"We should follow him, maybe he is trying to lead us somewhere," Kairi added.

Sora nodded as the two of them looked to Donald and Goofy. The two of them smiled before the four of them broke out into a run, trying to catch up the Pluto. They tried their best, running as fast as they could, but Pluto always seemed to be several feet ahead of them. The path continued to wind and bend around the world, with no town or anything in sight for miles. But the four kept going, in hopes that maybe they would come across something.

But after sometime, their paces started to slow and they found themselves stopping to catch their breaths. Kairi looked around the land, the path they were running on still stretched on for what seemed like miles. But now… Pluto was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did he go?" Kairi asked as she looked around.

"I don't know," Donald stated through a heavy breath.

"I guess he had somewhere to be," Goofy commented as he scratched his head, also puzzled where Pluto could have gone off to.

"Maybe… Maybe we should take a rest," Sora said as he continued to catch his breath.

Everyone agreed and took the time to sit down. Jiminy Cricket came out from Sora's hood a few seconds later. He seemed to be writing something down in his journal. "Do you think we will ever find any place here? This world still doesn't seem like the others we've been to."

"Who knows," Donald grumbled as he flopped onto his back, staring up at the sky, which was now turning a light orange from the sun setting.

"There has to be a reason though, right?" Kairi asked, trying to figure out a logical explanation. "I mean, why else would we end up here?"

"What else could there be though? This path seems to go on forever," Sora replied with a sigh, placing his hands behind his head. He glanced around them once more and saw that the path just seemed to stretch on and on forever.

"Maybe after we get some rest for the night we can figure out where to go," Jiminy commented as he looked up and noticed that the sky was growing darker.

"That sounds like a good plan, I think after everything I need a little rest," Kairi said with a small sigh.

She still could not believe what had happened in such a short amount of time. This whole crazy adventure… it was so unbelievable and exciting. Though of course there were those moments that were terrifying to her. Having to face off against Ansem in that giant monster like that, Kairi almost couldn't believe that she had done it.

Though she kept thinking about her adventure so far, her thoughts always kept drifting back to Sora. She looked at him again and saw him staring up at the sky, spacing out slightly. Her heart filled with heaviness as she began to wonder again about his condition. He already was doing far better than he was before when she brought him back from the Heartless. But he was still without his memories.

Kairi scooted a little close and continued to keep her eyes locked on him. "Hey Sora, how are you feeling?"

He turned to look at her. "Huh? Oh I feel fine. Why? I should be asking if you are okay. You're not still sore or anything?"

Kairi gave him a simple smile. "I'm fine. The potions and cure magic really helped."

"But you've never done any fighting before."

"Well it's not like you could remember how to fight right?" Kairi questioned.

"Yeah… but I started to pick it up again as we went along. I still… don't remember everything that I learned… but it's sort of come back to me," Sora replied tilting his head to the side. His eyes drifted to the ground for a moment as he became lost in thought.

"And you see? You weren't so sure at first, yet you managed to pull through. Even though I've never done anything like this, I'm learning. And when I am right by your side, we can learn together," Kairi replied cheerfully as she clasped her hands together.

"I guess that's true," Sora replied as he turned to look back at Kairi. "I… I just want to make sure that you're feeling all right after that battle."

Kairi continued to smile as she placed a hand on top of Sora's. "I told you, I'm fine. But thank you for caring."

Sora returned a smile. He held it only for a minute before his expression fell and he sighed. "Now I just wish I could remember everything."

Kairi nodded. "I know, but I also know that we will find a way to help you remember!" She paused before a thought came back to her. "Oh! I didn't get to ask before, but the voice you heard during the battle, did you figure out or remember who it was?"

"I think it was Riku. It had to have been. Seeing him at the door and hearing his voice… I know it was him," Sora said with a confirming tone in his voice.

"But do you remember anything else about him?"

Sora sighed and lowered his head again. "No. Only what you told me before. That we are all friends. I did feel it though. Like with you… something in my heart. There's something there, trying to remind me."

"Maybe it's your hearts way of telling you that you that it is trying to remember. This could be a good sign!" Kairi exclaimed before throwing her arms around Sora and hugging him tightly.

She heard Sora chuckle slightly before returning the hug. "I really hope so. It would be nice to finally remember."

* * *

As the evening turned into the night, the group eventually laid down in the grass to try and get some sleep. They could only hope that the weather did not change on them, as they had no supplies for a tent or anything else. Kairi and Sora stayed near each other though as their eyes become heavy and they slowly drifted into sleep.

Little did they know though, that they were being watched. Far off a man with pink hair stood in a white room staring into a large sphere that showed the image of Sora and Kairi sleeping. Also in the room was a young blonde haired girl. She sat off to the side, eyeing the sphere as she gripped a sketchbook in her hands.

"It seems Sora has fallen asleep," the pink haired man chuckled. "Finally, we can begin."

The girl with the sketchbook tense up slightly. She hesitated for a moment before she spoke up. "But… K-Kairi… she's with Sora and…"

"And what? Does it cause a problem with what you will be doing?" the man asked as he turned to look at the girl.

"If Kairi is around Sora… since she means a lot to him in his heart. Wh-What the plan is… it wouldn't work. He would never forget her while she is around," the girl said as she lowered her head. "And if Kairi where to get too close to me…" she trailed off, not wanting to think about the possibility of it.

"Hmm, we will have to take care of that then. We'll make sure that they won't stay together then once Sora arrives here," the man replied as he chuckled coldy.

The blonde raised her head and stared at the man, her eyes widening. The man only smirked back and walked a little bit closer. "You don't have to make that face Namine. To put you more at ease, I will make sure no harm comes to Kairi. But she will have to stay out of the way of Sora. Then everything should work, correct?"

Namine shook her head slowly, not making eye contact with the man. "Yes. But… there is something else I noticed."

"And what would that be?"

"Sora's memories… they are missing… well partially."

"What do you mean by that?"

"The memories are in his heart still… but not in his mind. He cannot exactly remember anything… but they are there though."

"Does that make it difficult to do what you are suppose to do?" the man asked as he crossed his arms.

"I… I will still be able to do it. He just won't end up forgetting since he cannot already recall those memories."

"That is good to hear then. So for now, we need to lure our guests here. Can't waste any more time," the man said before leaving in a portal of darkness.

* * *

Sora stirred slightly as a gentle breeze flew over him. A moment later he woke up and looked around. Donald and Goofy were still sleeping just a few feet away, and Kairi was just mere inches from him. His cheeks reddened as he quickly sat up and pushed himself to his feet. He breathed out slowly as he began to walk farther down the path. He didn't really have a reason as to why, he just decided to take a short walk.

After going down the path he ended up coming to a crossroad. The path he was on now split up into four different ways. Sora began to wonder if maybe there was towns within this world. After all there were paths, so they had to lead to somewhere. Before he could carry his thoughts anymore, a voice spoke up from behind, startling him.

"Along the road ahead lies something you need."

Sora whipped around, but there was nothing or no one behind him. He stared for a moment before he turned around, facing forward, and saw a person wearing a black cloak. Though he couldn't see the face, as it was covered by a hood. But by the tone of the voice, he could tell that it was a man speaking

"However… in order to claim it you must lose something that is dear to you," the figure continued.

Before Sora could even open his mouth to ask or say anything, the person turned around and disappeared before Sora's eyes. Sora then stood there, blinking, wondering what had just happened. Had he really seen that person? Or was it just a figment of his tired mind? He wasn't sure, but upon walking down the hillside a bit more he saw something in the distant. The land before him disappeared and one lone path stretched out into the abyss. But far off in the distance, he could see something. Perhaps it was a building of some sorts. He wasn't exactly sure what it was, but something was telling him to head over there.

Quickly he turned around and ran back to the group to wake them and tell them of his discovery. Once he had explained what happened all four of them started to head down the path Sora found and soon came across the building Sora had seen. Much to all their surprise, it wasn't just a building. It was a larger and odd looking castle.

The four of them started up at the door before Sora slowly started walking towards it. Kairi stepped forward and grabbed onto Sora's arm. "Wait! We can't just go in there. We don't know if anyone is even here."

"Kairi's right. I don't think it's very polite to just barge in," Goofy agreed.

Donald turned to Goofy, before he spoke. "But we gotta do it, if we're going to find the king…" he trailed off as he seemed to be at a loss for the rest of his words.

Goofy on the other had seemed surprised. "The king?! King Mickey's here?"

"Something just told me he'd be here, ok?" Donald replied.

"Really? 'Cause now that ya mention it, I was kinda thinkin' the same thing,"

"I was thinking that too…" Sora said as he stepped a bit closer to the door.

"What do you mean?" Kairi asked, still a bit uncertain of the castle.

"It's just some feeling I have… something told me to come here. Maybe… Maybe Riku and King Mickey are here. That's what I think my heart is trying to tell me."

"But why would they be here? How… I just don't know," Kairi said as she shook her head slightly.

"But I kind of got that same feelin' too," Goofy said. "Not sure how to explain it, but it's just a feelin' about this place."

Jiminy Cricket jumped out from Sora's hood. "Wait a minute. Hold on here! This can't just be a coincidence!"

"Wait… Jiminy," Donald started. "Ya don't mean that…"

"Yep, I had it too, mm-hmm! I had the exact same feeling," Jiminy replied.

"Gawrsh, maybe it's contagious," Goofy gasped.

"But I don't have that feeling," Kairi said. "I'm still uncertain about this place."

"I agree with Kairi. There's something screwy here. We gotta go take a look. Maybe something is inside," Donald said.

"All right, let's go in then," Sora said as he finally opened the doors.

All of them stepped inside and looked around the room they now stood in. It was a room with a tall ceiling and a long hallway with a small staircase leading up to a door. All around them though, was white and a bit of beige. The walls, floor and ceiling were all white and beige colored marble, but there didn't seem to be much else in sight.

Donald and Goofy began to look around to the sides while Sora stared forward. Though he paused after a second and a confused looked crossed his face. He reached down into the pocket of his shorts and pulled something out. "How did this get back like… this?"

Kairi stepped over to Sora and saw that he was holding her good luck charm. The very same one that she had given him and that he somehow used to turn into a keyblade. "What happened?"

"I don't know… it just reappeared back in my pocket," Sora replied.

"Can you not make it the keyblade anymore?" Kairi asked.

Sora held it for a moment, and looked at it carefully. A moment passed, but nothing happened. Sora crooked his head slightly, puzzlement coming over his face. "I don't get it. I somehow had it before… but now.. I don't remember how I did it."

Kairi hummed as she tried to understand the situation. With no other choice she summon the keyblade she had, Sora's original one, and held it out to him. "Take this back then."

"But Kairi, then you'll have nothing to fight with," Sora replied, not wanting to take the keyblade back.

"I'll be fine Sora, I've learned how to use magic now. So I can still use that. And besides, I know that everything will be okay if I am by your side."

Sora smiled at Kairi as he took hold of the keyblade. "You're right. We just gotta stick together." Sora unsummoned the keyblade as he looked back at the charm in his hand. "Do you want your charm back though?"

"No you hold on to it, you know, for luck," Kairi insisted.

Sora nodded and carefully placed it back in his pocket. The two of them then started to walk towards the staircase, as there was no where else to go in the room.

"Hey, fellahs, shouldn't we shut the door behind us before we go?" Goofy asked as he turned to look at the large door still open. Though he gasped in the next second. "Sora!"

Sora and Kairi turned around to see a hooded figure standing there. "You!" Sora shouted. You're the one from before! Who are you? Or… even what are you?"

Unlike before, Sora was more awake now, and he started to have a uneasy feeling about this man. He summoned his keyblade as he took a step forward. He stared as he awaited the man's answer. The man stood there though as the door slowly closed behind him.

Donald narrowed his eyes as he summoned his wand. "A Heartless? Maybe? I'll try some magic then!" Donald pointed his wand out at the figure, and readied himself. "THUNDER!"

There was a pause, but nothing happened. Donald grumbled. "Come on. Thunder! Thunder!" He started to get more upset and he waved his wand again. "Come… Blizzard? Fire!"

But still nothing happened and the figure now had walked right up to the group. Donald slumped his shoulders as he sighed. "Why isn't it working?"

"I should think it's obvious. The moment you set foot in this castle, you forgot every spell and every ability you ever knew. In this place, to find is to lose, and to lose is to find. That is the way in Castle Oblivion," the figure explained.

"Castle Oblivion?" Sora asked as he still held his keyblade tight. He took another step forward and kept his eyes locked on man in front of them.

The man disappeared in a portal of darkness. A second later he reappeared right between Sora and Kairi. Sora turned around and kept glaring at the man, feeling more and more that he could not trust whomever this guy was.

"Here you will meet people that you have known in the past. And you will meet people you miss," the man went on to say.

This caught both Sora and Kairi's attention. Sora lowered his keyblade slightly. "I miss? Who could… wait… Could it be Riku?"

"Riku's… really here?" Kairi added on to the ask, still not certain about the castle. She now felt more uneasy than before, especially after the man spoke of forgetting everything. Something about what he said made this whole situation feel so much worse.

The man paused before he answered. "If what you want… is to find him…"

As the man was still facing Sora he held out his hand and a gust of wind and flower petals shot forward at Sora. He held up his keyblade to block them, but it didn't really help. The man became somewhat transparent as he charged forward at Sora. With wide eyes Sora tried to attack the man, but he just flew through Sora, only leaving flower petals behind.

"Huh? What?" Sora asked, clearly confused by what just happened. He looked around and saw that the man was now standing up on top of the small staircase, right in front of the door. "What did you do?"

"I merely sampled your memories from within your heart. And from them, I made this," the man held up a odd shaped card in his hand. "To reunite with those you hold dear…" He then tossed it over to Sora who caught it.

Sora started down at the card and Kairi leaned over to see what was on it. There was a image of a world on the card but that was it. Though Kairi recognized what it was after staring at it for a few seconds. "That's Traverse Town."

"That's… the world we were in before going to fight Ansem right?" Sora asked, the earlier part of those memories from after Kairi saved him were still bit hazy.

"It is a promise for the reunion you seek. Hold the card to open the door. And beyond it, a new world."

"Does this mean… I could remember what I've forgotten?..." Sora asked quietly, still gripping the card tightly in his hand.

"If you proceed then you shall discover what you have lost. To lose and claim anew, or to claim anew only to lose…" the man spoke. He seemed finished as he disappeared, but then his voice echoed closely around them. "There's… one other thing."

Everyone looked around for where the man would reappear, but at first they didn't see him anywhere. Then Kairi felt a presence from behind her. Before she could even turn around one arm wrapped around her arms and the other around her mouth. She screamed out of pure reflex, but it was now muffled against the gloved hand. Though she heard the man mutter something under his breath and a faint glow flowed over his hand.

" _Magic?"_ Kairi thought. " _But… what...is…"_ Kairi couldn't finish her thoughts as her mind grew sleepy and her eyes started to close.

Sora took notice though right away that the man was now holding Kairi, as he glared at the him and charged without a word. Just as it seemed as Sora would reach them, the man disappeared into a dark portal, taking Kairi along with him.

"Hey! Bring Kairi back!" Sora shouted as he saw the portal vanish before his eyes.

Sora waited, but there was no answer, nor did the mane reappear. "Hey!" He shouted again. "Come back!"

" _Proceed through the castle and you may just get to see her again,"_ the man's voice echoed from somewhere.

Sora gritted his teeth as he looked all around him. Once he realized that the man was no longer there he lowered his head. Donald and Goofy slowly approached Sora, not exactly sure what to do. Everything had happened far too quickly for them to realize, though they wished that there was something they could have done. But it was too late now for that.

"Sora? You okay?" Donald asked as he looked at Sora.

"We were supposed to stick together…" Sora muttered. "I failed to keep her safe…"

"Don't say that Sora, you didn't know what that guy was gonna do," Goofy commented, hoping to console Sora.

"But what am I going to do now?" Sora asked as he looked up and over to his two friends.

There was a pause from the other two as they tried to think. Not only were they in a strange castle, but now they had lost all their magic and abilities. Everything was pretty much restarted for them. But that didn't mean they had lost their determination.

"We gotta keep movin'," Goofy finally said. "There isn't anywhere else to go but forward, so I think that's what we gotta do."

"Yeah!" Donald exclaimed in agreement. "And we will get Kairi back, don't worry."

Sora finally smiled slightly as he gave a nod. "Thanks guys. I just hope she's okay." Sora reached into his pocket and pulled out Kairi's good luck charm. "Kairi… don't worry. I'll save you."

* * *

Deep down in the basement of Castle Oblivion another man who wore the black cloak stood in the dimly lit room. He had his hood down though, with his greyish-blue hair falling over his right eye. He stood near a table, looking over a series of different papers. He raised his head in alertness when he noticed a portal appear in the back of the room. He turned to see the other person exit out of it, with their hood up. Even with that though, he could still sense who it was. But what surprised him most was that there was a girl in the arms of the other man. From the look of it, she looked like she was asleep.

"Marluxia, what brings you down here? And this girl… has something happened on the upper floors?"

"Zexion," Marluxia started. "It is nothing that you need to be concerned about at this time. All that I ask though that is that this girl is kept down here. Keep her here and don't let her escape."

"But who is…" Zexion started to say, but he stopped. He looked long at the girl, and sensed something about her. "That's the princess of light who is friends with Sora… why is she here?"

"Again, not thing that needs your concern right now," Marluxia said, keeping a stern tone in his voice. "Can I entrust you with this task though?"

Zexion narrowed his eyes. He could tell there was something that Marluxia was leaving out. Clearly there was more to this than he was letting on. But even if Zexion tried, he knew Marluxia would never just flat out tell him what it was. He would just have to find out on his own for now.

"Fine. Leave her here then. Lexaeus, Vexen and I shall be sure to keep and eye on her."

"Good, then that will be all," Marluxia said as he placed Kairi against the wall.

Not waiting a second more he left in the portal, leaving Zexion alone in the room with Kairi. Zexion slowly walked over to her and looked at her carefully. He stared only for a minute before he sighed and looked away. Faint old memories briefly floating around in his mind, he tried to push them away, but he decided to think on it for the moment.

" _I wonder… would she even remember… Hmm perhaps I could ask her at a later time,"_ Zexion thought to himself before going back to his work for the time being.

* * *

 **Oh man so yeah, this ended up being so much longer than I thought it would be. But now that I got the CoM stuff started, NOW I can finally start with Roxas's stuff next chapter.**

 **Also for the little part at the end, I like to imagine that Zexion when he was a young Somebody, may have known or talked to Kairi back when they were both in Radiant Garden. It's just a little idea I wanted to use, so there is that.**

 **Thanks again for reading! Let me know what you all thought!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Ch.8**

Before half of the Organization had left for Castle Oblivion, Roxas was still getting used to being in the group. At first he only was told to wait around, to get adjusted to things. He still didn't fully understand what they meant by that, but he tried to go along with it. But in those first few days since joining the Organization, he had been thinking quite deeply.

The concept of a Nobody was still strange to him. A being that was without a heart. An empty shell left over when a heart has been lost. Empty and without real emotions.

The memory of Sora turning the special keyblade on himself crawled back to his mind. He remembered that it was the only way to save Kairi and return her heart. And he wanted to do anything to help her. Even if it was a great risk to him.

He could recall the childish, happy smile he gave to Donald and Goofy before it happened. Before he stabbed the tip of the keyblade onto his chest.

When he had done that, everything started to fade away from him. Everything was becoming fainter. But as it was, there were faint voices calling out to him. No doubt it was his friends, but he was far too gone to manage to see.

Darkness came after that. And his consciousness was fading. At the time he had thought it was over. That he would fade into darkness and that would be it.

But that ended up not being the case.

While he did fade away in his mind to darkness for a while, he ended up waking back up. And he was in a new world. And from there he knew the rest.

It was still strange to think all of this had happened within a few days. Only a few days ago he was still with Donald and Goofy, fighting alongside them. Fighting the Heartless and going on an adventure to find his friends and get back home.

" _I guess that part still is going to have to wait awhile…"_ Roxas muttered in his mind.

It had been eight days now since he joined the Organization. Eight days of waiting around until they would need him for some, or whatever. While Roxas knew what the overall goal was for them, he didn't know exactly what they did. There were still so many questions he had, but he wasn't sure if he would get any answers soon.

On top of that, there was also yesterday. On his 7th day he had wandered down to the Grey Room to see if anything had changed. It turned out that there was a meeting… and it was yet another thing that piled questions into his mind.

They had another new member joined the Organization. And this member also had a keyblade just like Roxas. He wanted to talk to the new member, Xion, but after the meeting was over he didn't get a chance. He only hoped he would get the chance to talk, hoping maybe there was some answers there.

" _Maybe when I head to the Grey Room today. Maybe I can talk to Xion then,"_ Roxas thought. " _I really wonder who they are though… and how they can use the keyblade."_

While he waited in his room for time to pass, he got up and walked to the opposite wall from the bed. There was a door that lead to a small bathroom. Upon entering and switching on the light, the first thing he was met with was his reflection.

Or what was his _new_ reflection.

This was still the most puzzling thing to him. Since he became a Nobody, he had a completely different appearance. He was no longer a blue-eyed, brown haired boy with hair spiking out in every direction. Instead he was now a blue-eyed, golden-blond haired boy with hair that stuck upward and spiked out far less. Though the closer he looked at the shade of his hair, maybe there was a faint brownish tint to it. But he wasn't really an expert on hair so he couldn't give a solid answer to that.

Still, the appearance left him with far more questions than anything else. " _Is it just a thing? Someone's appearance changes when becoming a Nobody? But why would that be?"_

Before he got too lost in his own thoughts, he left the bathroom. He stared outside at the dark sky before sighing. He let himself space out for the moment, letting his questions fade for the time. Once he felt they were away, he turned and headed out of the bedroom and down the hall.

Enough time had passed that he felt it was a good time to head to the Grey Room. When he got there Saix told him right away that he would be going on a mission.

"What kind of mission?" Roxas asked after hearing Saix explain that this is what Roxas was expected to do for them.

"The missions vary, but for now we will be putting you through a series of basic missions. Think of them as training exercises before the real test," Saix replied.

"Training exercises?" Roxas questioned. He wrinkled his nose up. Did they think he was a baby? Or entirely new to this? Why have him do such simple things after he already had some so much before back when he was still a Somebody.

"Yes, that is correct." Saix said, not even questioning Roxas's look. "Axel will be joining you for your first time out. Isn't that right, Axel?"

Roxas stared that the two mean, who know conversed in a brief conversation with each other. The thought of training exercises still in his mind.

" _Do they think I don't know anything? Don't they know I already went on an adventure to learn how to fight and stuff? They gotta know something like that…"_

"Hey kid, you listening?"

Roxas snapped out of his thoughts to see Axel standing next to him. Roxas blinked, not realized that he had spaced out. "Uh… um sorry. What did you say?"

Axel rolled his eyes. "You can space out and be a zombie another time, but for now let's get this show on the road. Just talk to Saix when you're set to go."

"All right…" Roxas mumbled.

"Just don't take too long, we don't have all the time the he world," Axel added.

"Yeah I get that," Roxas replied with a huff of air.

Roxas walked around the Grey Room for a minute. He wasn't sure what he really needed to do before leaving. He still had no idea what the mission was about, other than it was simple and basic.

With nothing else to do he headed to Saix to tell him he was ready. Just as he was getting ready to leave with Axel, he noticed someone walk into the Grey Room. It was the newest member, Xion.

Roxas found himself stopped to stare. Xion had her hood up, concealing her face. Whatever her appearance was, it seemed that she didn't want anyone to see. That was what Roxas guessed anyways.

" _Maybe there is something about our appearance changing when becoming Nobodies and she doesn't want others to see…"_

"Hey Roxas, you coming or what?" Axel asked before turning around to see where Roxas was looking. "Oh, you're wondering about the new kid? What was that name again…"

"It's Xion, isn't it?" Roxas asked as he turned to Axel.

"Oh yeah, I knew that."

Roxas raised an eyebrow as he walked closer to the portal. When Axel saw that, they two of them entered in. It was there that Roxas decided to ask the new thought that had come to his mind.

"How did you forget Xion's name? I thought you were good at memorizing names or something."

Axel chuckled. "I can't remember right off the bat sometimes. Xion only joined yesterday. Besides I like having people memorize _my_ name. You haven't forgotten mine, have you?"

"No, I remember. You're Axel," Roxas replied.

"See?" Axel smirked. "I just have a way with people remembering my name."

Roxas stared, but he found himself smiling. Something about Axel's attitude made everything feel better. Axel was still the only one he had talked since the start of this new life. Maybe he would be the one that Roxas could get some answers from.

As they exited the portal, they walked out into an underground tunnel system that was beneath Twilight Town. Axel stretched before taking out a piece of paper from his cloak pocket.

"Okay, so missions. Gotta talk about that… they can vary of course. But you know they are… um…" Axel trailed off as he scratched the back of his head.

"You don't even know?"

"Hey I know! I just… uh… I don't know how to really explain it. It's just something you do and you go from there."

"But why?" Roxas asked.

"But why what?"

"But why do these missions? What do they really do?"

"They contribute to helping the Organization. Ah, well this mission in particular isn't really helping, but it's going to help you at least. So let's get to it. Follow me."

Without waiting for a response Axel stared walking, leaving Roxas to speed walk to keep up with him. He frowned slightly as he trailed behind Axel. He had hardly gotten anything of a good answer. There was still so much on his mind, and Axel didn't seem to really have what he was looking for. But there was no one else to ask at the time, so Roxas knew he just had to make due with what he had.

Once Axel lead Roxas enough down the tunnel, he looked at the sheet again. "Okay, there is a treasure chest somewhere in the area. Your mission is to find it."

Roxas's eyes narrowed. "I just have to find a chest?"

"Yup. So you don't need to over work yourself. Just take it easy and look around carefully."

"No I mean, like that's all I have to do today? I know how to find a chest…"

"I don't make the missions, I just do them" Axel replied, shrugging his shoulders. "It's just what Saix writes out."

Roxas frowned, not happy with what he was hearing. "Why do I have to do a mission like this? I already know stuff like this. I went on a big adventure before and I opened a lot of chests. This isn't new to me."

"It's not new to you, you're right about that. But we don't know that," Axel answered. "We don't know what you did before, other than you had the keyblade. We want to check and see in action your skills and abilities. And that has to start with the basics."

Roxas opened his mouth to reply, but it seemed that Axel wasn't finished.

"I get it though. You don't like being treated like a baby. And me having to babysit you on this mission probably isn't helping either. But it's just how it has to be for now. Though technically you are a baby in terms of a Nobody."

Now that was something that really catch Roxas's attention. "What? What does that mean?"

"In the Organization, your age as a Somebody doesn't really matter. We mark how old we are by how long we have been a Nobody. You may be physically fourteen, but as a Nobody you are only a few days old. Got that memorized?"

Roxas nodded, but said nothing else. He couldn't find any other words he wanted to say at the moment.

Axel decided to finish off what he had been saying before when he saw Roxas being quiet. "Once you get pass these basic missions and show that you know your stuff, you'll get to do missions that may be more of what you are used to."

Roxas lowered his head. He understood what Axel was saying. He was right and it made sense. Even though Roxas wanted to jump right off where he was comfortable, it made sense this group wanted to test him. They needed to see if he really knew what he thought he did.

" _Maybe these missions won't be so bad. It actually may be good to have a refresher."_

"Okay, so just gotta find one chest then?" Roxas asked as he looked back to Axel.

"You got it."

Roxas quickly started to look through the passageways. They were rather big and spacious, but soon enough he came across the chest near one of the tunnel exits. Without a word he opened it up and took the potion that was inside, figuring that it was okay since he was told to find a chest in the first place.

"Hey, good job. Looks like you got the hang of this mission business."

"It was just opening a chest, I've opened so many chests before. I could have done that in my sleep."

Axel laughed. "Ha ha. I don't know if a sleepwalking Nobody is what we need, but I'd paid to see that. But all right mr smart aleck, for your first successful mission, even if it was a baby mission, you deserve a little something. A little icing on the cake. C'mon."

Axel waved for Roxas to follow after him. Roxas stayed for a moment, confused by Axel's statement, but he quickly ran to catch up. "But the missions done. Isn't it? Doesn't that mean we head back?"

"We don't have to go right away. Besides, you remember our hangout?"

"Our… hangout?" Roxas asked.

Axel smiled. "Come on, I'll refresh you."

The two of them headed out of the underground area and into the main part of Twilight Town. It only took a few minutes for Axel to walk to one of the stores and buy something. He did it so fast that Roxas didn't have time to see what it was before it was placed into a small bag. He followed quietly behind Axel, trying to make sense of what the redhead was doing. Out of all the other Organization members he had seen, Axel was probably the strangest.

Once they were out of sight of normal people, Axel opened up a dark corridor and walked inside. Roxas followed behind, wondering where he was being lead. Moments later he exited out and saw that they were now on top of the clock tower in Twilight Town.

Axel was already sitting down and he motioned for Roxas to do the same. Once he did Axel held out a bar of blue ice cream. The same ice cream he had given Roxas on his first day as a Nobody.

"Here ya go. The icing on the cake."

Roxas took it and bit into it right away. The same sweet but salty taste covering his mouth, a unique but tasty flavor.

"So," Axel said after he took a bite of his own ice cream. "You remember what this ice cream is called?"

"Yeah… I think…" Roxas said as he tried to think back to the first day.

Though when he did, he found it to be more hazy than he originally thought. He could only remember the start of the day and then various bits and pieces. He remembered coming here with Axel after trying to run away, but what was said was too blurry in his mind.

Roxas lowered his head. "I… I can't remember. I thought I did."

"It's sea salt ice cream. I guess you can't remember too much from your first day?"

"I thought I did, but there are a lot of things I can't really remember now…"

"Don't stress about it. None of us really remember our first day clearly. It's usually a bit disorienting so you shouldn't worry if you can't remember everything," Axel answered.

"I remember that this is salt and sweet though," Roxas commented. "Even before starting to eat it now."

"Good to hear that. That means you aren't a total zombie."

"Hey!"

"I said you _aren't_ a total zombie. It's a compliment. I thought you would be far more spacey, but you've surprised me."

"Thank… I guess?" Roxas replied.

He took another bite of his ice cream after that. Looking off into the peaceful sunset brought out more of his thoughts. He started to figure that now could be the best time to ask what was on his mind. He only hoped that Axel would listen properly and possibly have the answers he needed.

"Hey Axel?"

"Yeah?"

"I have a question…" Roxas started to say.

He paused as he tried to gather his thoughts. He wanted to ask one question at the moment, and he needed the best what to phrase it. "Do people's looks change when they become a Nobody?"

Axel looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"I mean… I didn't look like this before. Before I became I Nobody I mean," Roxas tried to explain. He found that it was hard to convey than he originally thought. He couldn't seem to find the right words, but he could only hope that Axel understood.

"Hmm, that does sound weird," Axel said, letting Roxas feel less likely he would get a solid answer. "Never heard of anything like that before."

"Really? It's not a thing for Nobodies to look different?"

"Not as far as I know of. Does sound pretty weird though," Axel replied as he finished off his ice cream. "But maybe that means you are special. I mean you are one of the keyblade's chosen ones."

Roxas slumped his shoulders. His line of questions had lead him to a dead end. He felt like he was no farther than when he started thinking these thoughts. And now he wasn't sure if he could get any answers from Axel.

He stared down at the little bit of ice cream remaining in his hand. It had begun to drip down the stick and onto his glove. Not wanting it to go to waste, he finished up his ice cream without saying anything else.

"You going to be okay?" Axel asked after a moment.

"Yeah I guess… I think it's still a lot to take in though…"

"It's okay, you'll get used to it. Besides, today was your first day out in the field, working for the Organization. You got a lot of work ahead of you, but today you're one of us."

Roxas still was not 100% sure about the Organization. There were still many things he wanted to know about. Sure they told him what their goals were, but that was all he really knew. Could it really be that they only wanted to gain their hearts back? Or was there more to that? No where on his adventure before had he ever seen or heard of this group. From everything he had seen so far they seemed rather secretive and overall mysterious.

Roxas tried his best to push away thoughts. He had a feeling he wouldn't be able to just ask each and every thing he wanted to know. Not yet at least. Maybe within time he could learn more, but he was still new to all of this. It was still going to take time. So he saw that he might as well do as best as he could with where he was for now.

* * *

 **After some time, I managed another chapter one this. Back to Roxas as I said I would. Not every day in the early part of 358 will be covered. Only started with this as a basis. From here I can try my best to get into more things. Thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Ch.9**

The next few days were similar to the last for Roxas. He was brought out into Twilight Town and giving a basic mission. He didn't try to protest anymore after the first day. Despite wanting to get to the main missions right away, he knew he couldn't do anything about it. And besides, just as he had suspected, these missions were helpful refreshers.

From these missions, he also got to learn more about the Organization itself, and some of its other members. It was a lot to cover in the next series of days, but he tried to keep track of as much as he could. Plus he would write down as much as he could in his journal entry when the day was over. That was the problem the biggest help in keeping his thoughts straight on the situation.

And he had learned one major thing about the Organization in all of this time. Their goal was to complete Kingdom Hearts to be whole again. To gain a new heart and once again understand and feel emotions. That was what everyone was working towards and what they all wanted. But it was something rather strange for him to hear at first.

" _I wonder how long it's going to take to create Kingdom Hearts…"_ Roxas wondered. " _Is it even going to be the same thing that Ansem was trying to make?_

He was currently walking towards the Grey Room to see what his next mission was, but he slowed his pace so he could think more deeply. He knew he couldn't dawdle too long, but he still had some questions he wanted to throw around in his head.

When he had first heard that the Organization was trying to create Kingdom Hearts to get their hearts back, he nearly did a double take.

Kingdom Hearts, the very thing that Ansem was trying to summon to use to take over and destroy everything. That very Kingdom Hearts!? It almost seemed too bizarre and too much of a coincidence. But no matter how hard Roxas tried, he couldn't figure out anyway that they could connect. Though from what he could tell, everyone in the Organization saw Kingdom Hearts as the way to gain a heart back, not open the power to everlasting darkness.

" _Maybe Ansem really was wrong about it… or these guys are. I don't know… But they all seem to think that we can gain a heart from creating Kingdom Hearts. Maybe it will be different this time 'cause there is a different motivation behind it… I wonder though… if I will change or not when I get my heart back… I guess completing Kingdom Hearts may be the only way to find out."_

Roxas finally entered into the Grey Room and looked around. Aside from Saix, who was always in the Grey Room, there was also Larxene, Marluxia, Demyx, and Axel. From his training missions after the one he went on with Axel, he had gone on one with Larxene and another with Marluxia, but he had yet to go on one with Demyx. He didn't give it too much thought though as he figured he would eventually get a mission with him.

Before Roxas walked any further into the room, Axel moved from where he had been standing and walked over. He greeted Roxas with a grin. "Hey, Roxas. How are you feeling today?"

"Good," Roxas replied. "I've been feeling better over these past few days."

"Great! And I know you'll be happy to hear this next part," Axel said before pausing. He chuckled slightly before he went on. "You get to go on a real mission today!"

"Wait seriously?" Roxas gasped. He was so sure that he would have to go on yet another training mission. But now looking back, he had covered nearly everything in the past week. He wasn't sure what else he would be taught after that.

"Yup! And I'll be joining you today to make sure that you pull through. Though I haven't actually looked at the mission report yet." Axel rubbed the back of his neck before chuckling sheepishly. "But I know you can handle it. Just let me know when you are ready to go."

"All right," Roxas replied as he went to check if he had everything he might need.

Once he felt he was ready he walked up to Saix who handed him the mission papers. "You're first true mission starts today."

"Yeah I know, I got this," Roxas replied, smiling with confidence.

"We'll see about that," Saix replied, clearly not impressed from Roxas's show of enthusiasm for his mission.

Roxas shrugged to Saix before headed over to Axel. He didn't see a need to try and counter back to Saix, he wasn't one to make conversation with anyways. He walked over to Axel, who was now sitting on one of the chairs.

After Roxas told him that he was ready to go, the two set off. When they got to Twilight Town Roxas pulled out the paper and began to read over it. Axel stared at him with a bit of a surprise.

"You didn't read your mission before coming out here?"

"Hey! I was excited about having a real mission for once. So I think I can get away with not reading it until I get here," Roxas replied quickly.

"OKay okay, sheesh, I didn't expect you to be that excited over a little mission," Axel said with a hint of sarcasm.

"It's only a little mission though… I thought it would be bigger than this. Just taking out some Heartless around town? That's still so easy," Roxas replied as he finished reading the paper.

"And you thought what? You thought that the Organization would train you for about a week then send you off to fight some huge monster? You still gotta start small and work up to big," Axel replied.

Roxas sighed heavy. He lowered his head and stared at the ground. "Come on… I wanna do more."

"And you will. Just start with what you're given and you will be up to what you use to do in no time. Trust me on this Roxas, you just need to give it some time. You've only been here 14 days so far."

"I guess you're right… and this is still a real mission, so I can't complain too much," Roxas said, raising his head back up to look at Axel.

"See? There you go. Now come on, we have a mission to do."

Now that they had read the mission, Roxas and Axel made their way around Twilight Town. They fought off the Heartless that where there until it was cleared out and the quota had been filled. It wasn't hard at all, as Roxas expected. But it was much better than everything else he had done so far, and he was happy to finally get to do what he wanted without having to be supervised by another member.

Once they were finished, Axel stretched. "So, you got any plans after this?"

"Huh plans? What do you mean?"

"You know, something to do after you finish your work. Something to do to relax now that you have completed everything," Axel explained.

"Wait, we can do stuff like that? I thought we were just supposed to go back and turn in the reports from the day. Then you just stay around the castle or something."

Axel shook his head. "Oh, Roxas… you need to know that you don't have to do things so dry and boring. You are allowed to have your freedom to do what you want after the mission is over."

Roxas scratched the back of his head. "Oh, I guess I never really thought about it before."

Just as it seemed Axel was going to say something else, the two of them heard voices coming closer to where they stood. Coming from behind them were three teens. They paid no attention to Axel and Roxas as they ran by.

"Move it, Pence!" a blond boy shouted.

Two others followed behind the boy. One was a girl and the other was a boy, who Roxas presumed to be Pence. "Hey, wait up!"

"Last one there has to buy the winner an ice cream!" the blond taunted childishly.

The girl shook her head. "Oh, sure, now you tell us!"

Pence smile a little at his friend, though it looked like he was trying to be annoyed. "No fair, Hayner!"

"Better get flyin' if you don't wanna end up buyin'!" Hayer shouted before running off elsewhere into Twilight Town. His two friends laughed before running to catch up with him.

Roxas watched them run off, and he wished he could have seen them interact longer. Something about the way they ran around and talked to one another… reminded him of his friendship with Riku and Kairi.

His shoulders slumped as he let his thoughts take over his current state of mind. Riku and Kairi… he still had no idea what happened to them. He knew he released his own heart to save Kairi's… but did it work? What happened afterwards? Did Kairi really get her heart back? Roxas wanted to believe it, but without knowing for sure, it still left him to wonder. Then there was Riku. What had become of him after Ansem possessed him? Was he gone or worse? Roxas really wish he had these answers, but he knew there was no way of knowing.

He wished he could go out and find his friends again. He wanted to see if they were all right. He missed them dearly, but he was in no position to go out on his own yet. There was probably no way he could just go out searching for his friends. No doubt the Organization wouldn't let him go do something like that. Even if he did think his reasoning was serious enough, they probably didn't care about his friends from his life as a Somebody.

Then on top of all of that was still his appearance. Even if he was allowed to go out and search for his friends, they wouldn't even recognize him. He looked and sounded completely different now for a reason he had yet to understand. It would be a total waste if he even tried to find them and hope they would listen to his explanation.

Suddenly Roxas felt someone shaking his shoulder. "You Roxas, you still in there?"

"Huh? Oh yeah…"

"What was that about? You went total zombie on me for a moment," Axel laughed.

"Sorry… I guess I just got lost in thought about things…" Roxas let out a sigh. "Those kids, just reminded me of my own friends…"

"Ah…" Axel trailed off, not knowing the right words to say.

He could understand why Roxas would be upset by that. He was most likely thinking back on his memories and the time he spent with his friends. Most likely Roxas was longing for one of the things he couldn't have right now. But Axel knew that he couldn't let Roxas dwell too deeply on it, not that it mattered to one who didn't have a heart.

"Hey Roxas, how about we go get some ice cream."

"I guess we could…" Roxas mumbled.

Clearly he still couldn't get his mind off of missing his friends. Though getting into sensitive subjects was not really his forte, Axel saw he may have to talk a bit deeper about it. He let out a sigh and once again placed a hand on Roxas's shoulder.

"Hey, I know it's tough to think about. Those we've left behind when we lost our heart, it's hard not to think about it. But we can't live in the past, it isn't there for us anymore. We can't go back to what we have when we are missing something so vital. But you know, I like to think you and I are friends."

"Huh? You want us to be friends?" Roxas asked, a little surprised by the honesty of Axel's words.

"Yeah, why not? I thought we already were, but I guess we can still work on that," Axel chuckled.

Roxas started to feel a whole lot better now. He hadn't actually thought about making any friends in the Organization before. But now he saw that he already had one since the start. Axel was the one who talked to him to help him understand and wanted to hangout.

"Thanks Axel," Roxas said, returning a smile to him.

"There you go. Now let's go get that ice cream!" Axel exclaimed.

Once they had gotten the ice cream, they made their way back up to the clock tower where they had ice cream the other times. Roxas was once again taken aback by the view he saw. Even though he had already been up there several times now, this sunset was unlike anything else. It was beautiful and memorizing.

" _If I ever do get my heart back and find my way back to Riku and Kairi, I gotta bring them here and show them this place. If they are both okay that is…"_

Roxas sighed, but he tried not to let his mind dip back down there again. Right now he wanted to enjoy his ice cream and the view. He wanted to spend the time he had in the now, rather than worrying about the past or the possible future.

"Thanks Axel," Roxas said, speaking up after a few bites of ice cream. "I think I really needed this."

"Hey, you're welcome. You know, if you want to, what if we met up here each day after you finish a mission?"

"You think so? Can we do that?" Roxas asked.

"Sure. As long as we turn in our reports by the end of the day, it doesn't matter what we do in between. Sure beats just doing a mission then going back to their room for the rest of the day, right? That just seems like a total drag, right?"

Roxas laughed softly. "Yeah, I really didn't want to do that. But I had no idea I could do what I wanted afterwords. But yeah, I'd like that. It's what friends do anyways, right?"

"You got that right," Axel responded with a chuckle before going back to eating his ice cream.

* * *

 **With a bit of thought, I managed another chapter. It just took me a bit of thinkng how I wanted Roxas to approach going through this day. But I hope you guys enjoyed! Thank you all for the support and I'll see you next time!**


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